9514 1404 393
Answer:
1) m = -5/2
3) m = -1
Step-by-step explanation:
Each equation is in the form ...
y = mx +b
The coefficient of x is m, the slope of the line.
The constant b is the y-intercept: the value of y when x=0, the point where the line crosses the y-axis.
You are asked for the slope, which is the coefficient of x.
__
1) y = -5/2x -5
The coefficient of x is -5/2, so the slope is -5/2.
__
3) y = -x +3
The coefficient of x is -1, so the slope is -1.
_____
<em>Additional comment</em>
When you read an English sentence, you make sense of it by figuring out what it is talking about (the subject), and what it is saying about it (the verb). Along the way, there are modifiers that add or change the meaning of these things.
When you read a math sentence, you can make sense of it by looking for the equal sign, and identifying what the expressions are on either side of it. Locate the variables in each of those expressions and see what is being done to them -- what operations are being performed.
When there is a single variable on the left, it is often intended to be the dependent variable. When there is an expression on the right consisting of terms involving math operations, these usually tell you how the dependent variable depends on the independent variable there. The degree (exponent or power) of the independent variable in each term is important to notice.
In these equations, the dependent variable is y; the independent variable is x. The degree of x is 1, which means this is a <em>linear</em> equation and its graph is a straight line. The number that multiplies the variable is its <em>coefficient</em>. In a linear equation, the coefficient of the independent variable is the <em>slope</em> of the line.
In short, you get to the answer by learning how to read the math sentence.
