Slope

To describe a line, it is important to indicate how steep it is. This property of the line is called slope. Slope can be any number, including zero (when the line is horizontal). Vertical lines have an infinitely large slope. This lecture series explains how to find the slope of a line given two points and how to graph a line given its slope. Watch the videos and complete the interactive exercises.

Graphing from slope - Questions

Answers

1.

Graphing the first point

To graph a line, we need to find two points that are on it. Then we can drag the movable points to those points.

We already have one point, (4, 3), and we can use the slope of the line to find another point.

We want the slope to be  \frac {1}{2} . Let's look at this slope as a fraction to help us graph the line:

\text { slope }=\frac{\text { rise }}{\text { run }}=\frac{\Delta y}{\Delta x}=\frac{1}{2}

Starting at (4, 3) , let's go 1 unit up and 2 units to the right to plot another point on the line:

The answer


2.

Graphing the first point

To graph a line, we need to find two points that are on it. Then we can drag the movable points to those points.

We already have one point, (-3, 5) , and we can use the slope of the line to find another point.

Use the slope to graph another point

We want the slope to be  -\frac {2}{5}. Let's look at this slope as a fraction to help us graph the line:

\text { slope }=\frac{\text { rise }}{\text { run }}=\frac{\Delta y}{\Delta x}=\frac{-2}{5}

Starting at  (-3, 5 ), let's go 2 units down and 5 units to the right to plot another point on the line:

The answer


3.

Graphing the first point

To graph a line, we need to find two points that are on it. Then we can drag the movable points to those points.

We already have one point, (3, 0) , and we can use the slope of the line to find another point.

Use the slope to graph another point

We want the slope to be 4. Let's look at this slope as a fraction to help us graph the line:

\text { slope }=\frac{\text { rise }}{\text { run }}=\frac{\Delta y}{\Delta x}=\frac{4}{1}

Starting at  (3, 0) , let's go 4 units up and 1 unit to the right to plot another point on the line:

The answer


4.

Graphing the first point

To graph a line, we need to find two points that are on it. Then we can drag the movable points to those points.

We already have one point, (-2, 7), and we can use the slope of the line to find another point.

Use the slope to graph another point

We want the slope to be 4:

\text { slope }=\frac{\text { rise }}{\text { run }}=\frac{\Delta y}{\Delta x}=\frac{4}{1}=\frac{-4}{-1}

Starting at (-2, 7), we don't have room on the given grid to go 4 units up and 1 unit right. So let's go 4 units down and 1 unit to the left to plot another point on the line.

The answer