Question

What is the slope of the line that passes through the points (–1, –17) and (–4, –2)?

Answer 1

Hello!

To find the slope of a line, we use the formula y2-y1/x2-x1.

Each ordered pair can either represent the 1,s or the 2,s and the slope will be the same. For our example, lets have (-1,-17) represent (x1,y1) and (-4.-2) represent (x2,y2). 

We will plug these values into the equation.

-2+17/-4+1
15/-3
-5

The slope of the line is -5, but let's check our answer by switching the 1's and 2's.

-17+2/-1+4
-15/3
-5

The slope of the line is -5.

I hope this helped you!