Slope: 

Point-slope form: 

 ------- Substituting  for m, and (5, - 5) for 



 ------- Subtracting 5 from each side



 

Answer by ikleyn(52835)   (Show Source): You can put this solution on YOUR website!
 .

To get more confidence with the subject, read the lesson



    - Equation for a straight line in a coordinate plane passing through two given points



in this site.







In the future, you may want to read other closely related lessons



    - Find the slope of a straight line in a coordinate plane passing through two given points



    - Equation for a straight line having a given slope and passing through a given point



    - Solving problems related to the slope of a straight line



    - Equation for a straight line parallel to a given line and passing through a given point



    - Equation for a straight line perpendicular to a given line and passing through a given point 





 

Answer by greenestamps(13203)   (Show Source): You can put this solution on YOUR website!
 


It's easy to see how you can get two different values for the slope; but of course there can only be one right value.


I see many students getting wrong values for the slope by blindly plugging numbers into the slope formula, .


For any students who find themselves getting wrong values for the slope using the formula, I recommend visualizing the two points on a graph and calculating slope using the "rise over run" concept.


You are far less likely to get wrong numbers if you do that, instead of blindly plugging numbers into a formula.


I always like to start at the leftmost point so that my "run" is positive.  Then the slope will tell me how much I move up (positive slope) or down (negative slope) for each "step" I take forward.


In this problem, the point (-3,4) is to the left of (5,-5).  The run (from -3 to 5) is 8; in moving from x=-3 to x=5 my y value changes from 4 to -5, a change of -9.  So the slope is my "rise over run", which is -9/8.


Note that if you have a picture at least in your mind of the two points, you are less likely to make mistakes in calculating the slope.


For example, you say you got two values for the slope, one of which was -9/2.  It is easy to see how you can get the "2" in the denominator if you blindly plug numbers into the slope formula, when the x coordinates of the two points are 5 and -3.  But if you have a picture of the two points in your mind (or on paper), it is easy to see that the difference between the two x values is 8 and not 2.


Then once you have the correct slope of -9/8, proceed to find the equation using either either the point-slope form or the slope-intercept form of a linear equation. 

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