The first step to finding the equation of the line in the slope-intercept form is to find the slope.
So, to find the slope we can use the following equation:

Where (x1, y1) and (x2, y2) are points of the line.
Therefore, if we replace (x1, y1) by (5, -4) and (x2, y2) by (-1, 8), we get that the first step is to calculated:
y2 - y1 = 8 - (-4) = 8 + 4 = 12
x2 - x1 = -1 - 5 = -6
Answer: Calculate 8 - ( - 4 ) = 12
Calculate - 1 - 5 = -6