SOLUTION: Techology. Driving down a mountain, Tom finds that he has descended 1800 ft in elevation by the time he is 3.25 mi horizontally away from the top of the mountain. Find the slope of

Question 86561: Techology. Driving down a mountain, Tom finds that he has descended 1800 ft in elevation by the time he is 3.25 mi horizontally away from the top of the mountain. Find the slope of his descent to the nearest hundredth.

this is what I come up with
y=mx+b
y=3.25x+1800
Am I on the right track. I just don't know how to continue...
Found 2 solutions by checkley75, jim_thompson5910:
Answer by checkley75(3666) (Show Source): You can put this solution on YOUR website!
YOU HAVE 2 POINTS TO GRAPH. ON THE Y AXIS (0,1800) & ON THE X AXIS (5,280*3.25,0).
NOW JUST FIND THE SLOPE (Y2-Y1)/(X2-X1)
(0-1800)/(5,280*3.25)
-1800/17,160
-.11 IS THE VALUE OF THE SLOPE.
Answer by jim_thompson5910(35256) (Show Source): You can put this solution on YOUR website!
First convert 3.25 mi into feet

Lets draw a picture to see whats going on:

Remember, the slope is the "rise" (which is the height) over the "run" (which is the base)
So the slope is

note: since we are descending the rise is negative

Now reduce the fraction to

So the slope is

Now if you want it in decimal form, simply divide 15 by 143 like this

which to the nearest hundredth is

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