What is the formula for the slope of a line?

The formula for the slope of a line is represented as the change in the vertical value (y-coordinates) divided by the change in the horizontal value (x-coordinates) between two points on the line. This can be expressed mathematically as (y2 - y1) / (x2 - x1).

When using this formula, the numerator (y2 - y1) indicates how much the y-value changes as you move from point 1 to point 2, while the denominator (x2 - x1) measures how much the x-value changes over the same interval. The slope thus reflects the steepness and direction of the line: a positive slope indicates that as x increases, y also increases, whereas a negative slope indicates that as x increases, y decreases.

Understanding the correct formula for the slope is crucial in various applications such as determining the steepness of a road or analyzing trends in data graphs.