Question

What is the simplified slope of the line that passes through points A(6,0) B(0,-2)?

Answer 1

To find slope, use the equation:
$slope = \frac{ y_{2} - y_{1} }{x_{2}-x_{1}}$
where $x_{2}$ and $y_{2}$ are the x and y values of one coordinate point, and $x_{1}$ and $y_{1}$ are the x and y values of another coordinate point . Since we are given two coordinate points, that means we can find the slope using the slope equation.

Let's choose (6, 0) as your $(x_{2}, y_{2})$ point and (0, -2) as your $(x_{1}, y_{1})$ point, but you can switch those if you want! That makes $x_{2} = 6, y_{2} = 0$ and $x_{1} = 0, y_{1} = -2$. Plug these values into the slope equation and simplify:

$\frac{ y_{2} - y_{1} }{x_{2}-x_{1}} \\ = \frac{ 0 - (-2) }{6-0} \\ = \frac{2}{6} \\ = \frac{1}{3}$

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Answer: Slope = $\frac{1}{3}$