Question

What is the equation that represents the line that passes through the points (9, -2) and (12, -5)?

Answer 1

Hi there!

$\large\boxed{y = -x + 7}$

To begin, we must use the slope formula to calculate the slope of the line:

$m = \frac{y_2-y_1}{x_2-x_1}$

Plug in the coordinates:

$m = \frac{-5-(-2)}{12-9}$

Simplify:

$m = \frac{-3}{3} =-1$

Recall that the equation for a line in point-slope form is:

y - y1 = m(x - x1)

Plug in coordinates into the equation along with the slope:

y - (-2) = -1(x - 9)

Simplify:

y + 2 = -x + 9

y = -x + 7