Question

A student said that the slope of the line through (8,4) and (2,2) is 3. what error could this student have made?

Answer 1

Below

Explanation:

To find the slope of the line you divide the difference in y values of the points by the difference of the corresponding x values).

So here the slope = (4-2) / (8-2}

= 2/6 = 1/3.

The student found it to be 3, so he could have divided the other way,

(8-2)/ (4 -2) =3. In other words he divided the difference of x-values by the y values instead of difference of y-vales divided by x values.