This week in Math 10 we focussed on slopes. I personally have never done or seen slopes before but after doing them this week I see how simple they are once you know what you are doing.
In this blog post I will focus on on how to find the slope of a line.
There are two different ways to find the slope depending if you have the line in front of you or if you are given coordinates. Those are the two formulas, in which you should know to get the slope.
Let’s take this example for when you are given the line. My first step is to determine the rise and run. To do this I am going to count up first, and then to the side. If you count down then your rise is negative and if you count to the left for your run then the run is negative.
After you find the rise/run you simply just divide the two numbers. If they don’t divide leave it in a fraction and simplify it as far as you can.
Now if you are given the coordinates you are going to follow the formula given above. A common mistake is people mix up the X and the Y, but remember to put the Y on the top of the fraction line.
Once I get to this point in my equation I can subtract 3 and 7, 8 and 3. Once I do that I will divide or simplify my fraction and I have my slope.
Now that we did the basics we will do a harder question.
As you can see in this I followed the exact same steps as I did before. I subtracted Y2 from Y1 and then X2-X1. Finally divided but in this case left it in a fraction.
Just like that you know how to find a slope. It really is very simple you just need to know the formulas and plug in the correct numbers!
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