Question

What is the slope of the line that passes through the points (5, -1) and (-3,3)?

Answer 1

To answer this question, we need to apply the formula for the slope of a line, and before it, we need to use the given points and label them. Then, we have the points:

(5, -1) and (-3, 3).

We can label them as follows:

(5, -1) ---> x1 = 5, y1 = -1, and

(-3, 3) ---> x2 = -3, y2 = 3.

The formula for the slope of a line is:

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

Then, we need to substitute each variable with its respective number:

`m=(3-(-1))/(-3-5)=\frac{3+1_{}}{-8}=(4)/(-8)=(2)/(-4)=(1)/(-2)\Rightarrow m=-(1)/(2)`

Therefore, the slope for the line that passes through the points (5, -1) and (-3, 3) is equal to -1/2, or m = -1/2 (third option.)