Slope Formula

In this section, we learn about an important characteristic of a line, its slope. The slope of a line is a measure of its steepness. It’s the amount the line rises or falls per one unit change horizontally (along the x - axis). We can calculate the slope by using the slope formula. First, we pick any two points on the line and label one point as: (x₁,y₁) and the other as: (x₂,y₂). We can then plug these points into the slope formula. The slope formula, which denotes slope as m, gives the slope as: the change in y values (vertical change or rise) / the change in x values (horizontal change or run). We often think about slope as: rise/run. The slope formula: $$m\hspace{.25em}=\hspace{.25em}\frac{y_2-y_1}{x_2-x_1}$$