Slope
Have you ever been skiing or seen it on television?• What is the
difference between the beginner’s trail (bunny slope) and the expert’s trail (black diamond slope)?
Slope
• In skiing, slope refers to a slanted mountainside.
• The steeper the slope is, the higher its difficulty rating will be (green - double black diamond)
Slope in Math
• In math, slope defines the slant of a line.
• The larger the absolute value of a slope is, the steeper, or more vertical, the line will be.
Slope
Linear equations have constant slope. For a line on the coordinate plane, slope is the ratio….
“Rise over Run”
• Rise is the number of units moved up or down. (y- axis)
• Run is the number of units moved left to right (x- axis)
• Slope can be positive, negative, zero, or undefined.
Can I find a slope without graphing?
If you know any two points on a line, or two solutions of a linear equation, you can find the slope of a line without graphing.The slope of a line through the points (x1, y1) and (x2, y2) is as follows:
Variable Rate of Change
• Nonlinear equations have variable rates of change. This means that the rate of change is different between different values. This is shown in a graph by a curved line: