Using Two Points to Find Slope                              Page 3 of 5

Example 2

Find the slope of a line through the points (-5,6) and (7,2).

Step 1: Label the points.  Remember the x's are always listed first in the ordered pairs and the y's are listed second in each ordered pair.

Step 2: Plug the values into the formula.  Make sure to subtract the y's in the numerator and subtract the x's in the same order for the denominator. Be especially careful when dealing with negative numbers.  7 minus a negative 5 is the same as 7 plus a positive 5.

Step 3: Make sure your answer is simplified.  In this case, we can divide the numerator and denominator by 4 to simplify the answer.

It does not matter if you put the negative sign out in front of the fraction or if you leave it in the numerator.  

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