I need some help in Math, If I don't improve I'll be held back...

[Hatsune Miku]

I tried asking my teacher for help but he explains things in a way I don't understand. So I'm constantly falling behind, even on the simplest things...

Can someone explain to me how you find the slope of a linear equation? ( I already know the function form is y=mx+b )

[eraser]

basically if you have two co-oridnates (a,b) and (c,d) the forumla to find the gradient or slope is (d-b)/(c-a).

the function y=mx+b is the function for a liner equation. so if you are given two points that are on the graph, you can figure out what m and b are.

[CaptainObvious]

The slopy is the coefficient on the x. The formula to find it is:

Slope = Rise / Run

Rise means change in y, and run means change in x.

So you have:

Slope = Change in y / Change in x

e.g. if we have 2 points (x1, y1) and (x2, y2)

Slope = (y1 - y2) / (x1-x2)

Remember to make sure you're subtracting those numbers in the same order. So it could be (y2 - y1) / (x2 - x1), as long as the order in the numerator and denominator is the same.

[Hatsune Miku]

The slopy is the coefficient on the x. The formula to find it is:

Slope = Rise / Run

Rise means change in y, and run means change in x.

So you have:

Slope = Change in y / Change in x

e.g. if we have 2 points (x1, y1) and (x2, y2)

Slope = (y1 - y2) / (x1-x2)

Remember to make sure you're subtracting those numbers in the same order. So it could be (y2 - y1) / (x2 - x1), as long as the order in the numerator and denominator is the same.

So, If my two points are ( x5, y4 ) and ( x7, y8 ) then the slope is, 2?

[INFERNO]

So, If my two points are ( x5, y4 ) and ( x7, y8 ) then the slope is, 2?

If your points are (x1,y1) = (5,4) and (x2,y2) = (7,8) then:

Slope = (Y2-Y1) / (X2-X1) = (8-4) / (7-5) = 4/2 = 2

So correct, slope = m = 2.

[Malcolm Tucker]

Another quick way my maths teacher showed me along with the above formulas is:

You are given a line: ax+by+c=0

All you do to find the slope is put negative of b over a and voila.

EG. The slope of the line 3x+4y-7=0

= -4/3

[Perseus]

If I remeber correctly, if you're looking at an equation where y=mx+b
x is slope, but I'm not entirely sure. :P But the slope formula works, too. So, I take it you're in eigth grade. You need to be able to do slope stuff with slope, a lot. Ask your friends for help, too, because over teh internetz, math is hard to explain.

[INFERNO]

If I remeber correctly, if you're looking at an equation where y=mx+b
x is slope, but I'm not entirely sure. :P But the slope formula works, too. So, I take it you're in eigth grade. You need to be able to do slope stuff with slope, a lot. Ask your friends for help, too, because over teh internetz, math is hard to explain.

You made a slight error actually. In y = mx + b, m is the slope and x is the x-coordinate you can input to find a numerical value for y (or b or m depending on the circumstances of the question).

[Perseus]

You made a slight error actually. In y = mx + b, m is the slope and x is the x-coordinate you can input to find a numerical value for y (or b or m depending on the circumstances of the question).

Yeah, that's what I meant. It's just hard to explain math on the internet. :D

[belfordrocks]

I'm good at explaining things in laymans terms, so here I go.

You know the x axis goes across and y asix goes down-up, right?

Now in y = mx + b, the slope is basically m. M will tell you how much the slope is, or the "gradient". For example, is M is 2, then y goes up twice as fast as x. So we'd start at the centre, 0,0, when x is 1, y is 2. When x is 2, y is 4, when x is 3, y is 6 and so on. The slope is 2, because the "m" value is two. It does get more complex, but that' the gist of it.

[Hatsune Miku]

Just wanted to say thanks to everyone who helped.
I got an 83 on my test =]