The standard form of a linear equation, a line, is y = mx + b, where m is the slope. The rule is the higher this value of m, the steeper the graph is. If we have the original equation y = 3x + 1, its slope m is 3; in the "new" equation, y = x + 1, its slope is 1. So the "new" equation would be less steep because the slope is a lower value than the original.
