Question

What is the slope of the line that passes through the points (1, 3) and (5, –2)?

Answer 1

m=-(5/4)

From left to right, (1,3) is first and then comes (5,-2). Always remember when finding slopes without equations, the rule is RISE over RUN, to the numerator and denominator, respectively.

The y value of the second coordinates becomes negative which is unlike the y value in the first coordinates, which means our slope is downward, meaning it has a negative sign in front.

In every slope, there’s a numerator, being the rise, and a denominator, being the run.

To find the rise, we must look at the y values. Starting at 3 going to -2 has a space of 5 units, making that our numerator.

To find the run, the first x value is 1 and the second is 5, making a space of 4, which is out denominator.

With these two numbers and the negative sign, we get -(5/4) as our slope.