Let's say that the shorter piece is x and the longer piece is 5x (because it's 5 times as long). x+5x=72 and 6x=72. Dividing both sides by 6, we get that x=12, and 72-12=the length of the other piece (since there are only 2 pieces)=60
Every time the x-value increases by 1, the y-value increases by 2. Therefore, the slope of the line must be equal to (rise/y-values over run/x-values). In slope-intercept form , represents the slope of the line, represents the y-intercept, and represents any point the line passes through.
Since represents the slope of the line, the value of
While the question only asks for this value, it's good to note that the equation of the function is (find 7 by substituting any ordered pair in the table with ).