SOLUTION: What is the slope of the line that contains the points (-1, 8) and (5, -4)?

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Question 717733: What is the slope of the line that contains the points (-1, 8) and (5, -4)?
Answer by jim_thompson5910(35256) About Me  (Show Source):
You can put this solution on YOUR website!

Note: is the first point . So this means that x%5B1%5D=-1 and y%5B1%5D=8.
Also, is the second point . So this means that x%5B2%5D=5 and y%5B2%5D=-4.


m=%28y%5B2%5D-y%5B1%5D%29%2F%28x%5B2%5D-x%5B1%5D%29 Start with the slope formula.


m=%28-4-8%29%2F%285--1%29 Plug in y%5B2%5D=-4, y%5B1%5D=8, x%5B2%5D=5, and x%5B1%5D=-1


m=%28-12%29%2F%285--1%29 Subtract 8 from -4 to get -12


m=%28-12%29%2F%286%29 Subtract -1 from 5 to get 6


m=-2 Reduce


So the slope of the line that goes through the points and is m=-2