Question 192237: a line in the Cartesian plane passes through the points (-2,4) and (2,-1). what is the rise and the run of the line? I got run is4 and rise is 5 is it corect?
Found 2 solutions by solver91311, Mathtut:
Answer by solver91311(24713)   (Show Source):
You can put this solution on YOUR website!
Missed it by that much.
The slope of a line, defined as the rise divided by the run, is given by the formula:
Where ) and ) are the coordinates of the given points.
Notice that no matter which point you select from your two given points to be point 1 and which to be point 2, one of the values, either the numerator or denominator in the slope calculation above, is negative. So it would have been correct to say that the rise is 5 if you say the run is -4. On the other hand if you want the run to be 4, then the rise must be -5.
If you plot the points and draw the line passing through them, you will notice that the line slopes downward as you go from left to right. This is a line with a negative slope, therefore the rise and the run must be opposite signs. Another way to look at it is if you move a positive amount in the horizontal, the vertical changes downward, or negatively.
John
Answer by Mathtut(3670)  (Show Source):
You can put this solution on YOUR website! rise is -1-4=-5 for which the run would be 2-(-2)=4 or the rise is 4-(-1)=5 for which the run is -2-2=-4
:
in both cases the slope is -5/4
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