Question

5. Find the slope of the line through the points (17.-13) and (17,8).

Answer 1

To find the slope of a line that passes through two points you have to use the following formula

`m=(y_1-y_2)/(x_1-x_2)`

Where

(x₁,y₁) are the coordinates of one of the points

(x₂,y₂) are the coordinates of the other point

The points (17,-13) and (17,8) have the same x-coordinate, x=17, if you replace the coordinates on the formula you will see that the denominator of the division is equal to zero. This means that the slope is undefined:

`\begin{gathered} m=(8-(-13))/(17-17) \\ m=(8+13)/(0) \end{gathered}`

An undefined or infinite slope indicates that no matter what the value of y is, the value of x will remain the same. This is an example of a vertical line.