Answer:
It’s a number that describes both the direction (positive or negative) and the steepness of the line. It’s usually denoted by the letter m. Informally, the slope of a line is found with the catchy phrase “rise over run“. This works with any segment, of any length, for any straight line:
1) Find the rise (the length of a segment on the y-axis): The rise (the length of the vertical blue line) in the above picture is 4.
2) Find the “run” (the length of a segment on the x-axis): The run (the length of the horizontal blue line) is 2.
3) Divide the rise (Step 1) by the run (Step 2): 4/2 = 2.
The slope for this example is 2.
The formula for a straight line is: y=mx+b
Where:
b = the y-intercept (where the graph crosses the y-axis),
m = the slope (i.e. how steep the line is),
x = a variable.
