Slope and Equations of Lines

Definition and Properties of Slope

Slope is a measure of the steepness of a line. The bigger (in absolute value) the slope is, the steeper the
line is.
Slope is the ratio of how much a line changes vertically (goes up or down) to how much the line changes
horizontally (goes left or right). Therefore slope gives the “rate of change” in the quantity represented on
the y-axis relative to the quantity represented on the x-axis.
Slope is represented by the letter m.
The following fractions are just different ways of expressing the same relationship.
rise change in y Δy y 2 − y1
slope = m = = = =
run change in x Δx x 2 − x1
A line that gets higher as you move along it from left to right has positive slope.
A line that gets lower as you move along it from left to right has positive slope.
A horizontal line has a slope of 0.
€
A vertical line has undefined slope.

Example 1: Determine the slope of the line shown.

Method 1: Pick two points on the line whose coordinates
are easily read. We’ll use (-4,-5) and (8,4). Then start at
the first point and move vertically and then horizontally
to get to the second point. Count the number of spaces
you had to move vertically, in this case 9. That is the rise.
Count the number of spaces you had to move
horizontally, in this case 12. That is the run. So the slope
rise 9 3
is m = = = .
run 12 4
Method 2: The coordinates of the first point are the
values for x1 and y1 so x1 = −4 and y1 = −5 . The
€ coordinates of the second point are the values for x 2 and
y 2 so x 2 = 8 and y 2 = 4 . So the slope is
y −y 4 − (−5) 9 3
€ = 2 € 1 =€
m = €= .
x 2 − x1 8 − (−4) 12 4 €
€ € €
Equations of Lines
€ General Form of the Equation of a Line: Ax + By = C , where A and B are not both 0.
Slope-Intercept Form of the Equation of Line: y = mx + b , where m is the slope of the line and b is its y-
intercept.
Point-Slope Form of the Equation € of a Line: y − y1 = m(x − x1 ) , where m is the slope of the line and
(x1, y1 ) is a point on the line. €
Equation of a Horizontal Line: y = c , where c is a constant, is the equation of a horizontal line that
passes through c on the y-axis and through
€ every point with a y-coordinate of c.
€ Equation of a Vertical Line: x = c , where c is a constant, is the equation of a vertical line that passes
through c on the x-axis
€ and through every point with an x-coordinate of c.

€
(Thomason – Fall 2015) p. 1 of 3
 Example 2: Give the equation of the vertical line that passes through the point (-3,-5).
Solution: Because all of the x-coordinates on a vertical line are the same, the equation of this vertical
line must be the same as the x-coordinate of the given point. So the desired equation is x = -3.
Example 3: Give the equation of the horizontal line shown.
Solution: The line passes through 4 on the y-axis which means that every
point on the line has a y-coordinate of 4. So the equation of the line is
y = 4.

Example 4: Put the line 3x + 5y = 7 in slope-intercept form. Then give the slope and the y-intercept.
Solution: To put the equation in slope-intercept form, we must solve it for y.
5y = 7 − 3x subtracting 3x from both sides
5y 7 − 3x €
= dividing both sides by 5
5 5
7 3x 7 3 3 7
€ y= − = − x = − x + simplifying
5 5 5 5 5 5
3 7 3 7
€ So the slope-intercept form is y = − x + . The slope is − and the y-intercept is .
5 5 5 5
€ Example 5: Give the equation of the line whose graph is shown in Example 1.
Solution: We can see€that the graph crosses the €
y-axis at -2 so that is the y-intercept,
€ b. And in Example
3
1 we determined the slope m of the line was . So substituting into slope-intercept form, we find that
4
3
the equation of the line is y = x − 2 .
4

Example 6: Give the slope-intercept € form of the equation of the line that passes through the points (-2,5)
and (4,-7).
€
Solution: We can use -2 and 5 as the values of x1 and y1, respectively and we can use 4 and -7 as the
values of x 2 and y 2 , respectively. So the slope of the line is given by
y − y1 −7 − 5 −12
m= 2 = = = −2 .
x 2 − x1 4 − (−2) 6 € €
Substituting
€ € the values of x1, y1 and m into the point-slope form, we get
y − 5 = −2(x − (−2))
which simplifies to y = −2x +1
€
€ €
Parallel and Perpendicular Lines
€
Parallel lines
€ have equal slopes. For example, y = 5 x − 3 and y = 5 x + 7 are parallel because they both
2 2

have a slope of 25 .
Perpendicular line have slopes that are negative reciprocals. For example, y = 47 x + 2 and y = − 47 x +1
are perpendicular because their slopes,
€ 4 and − 7 , are
7 4
€ negative reciprocals.
€
€ €
(Thomason – Fall 2015) € € p. 2 of 3
 Example 7: Give the slope-intercept forms of the equations of the lines that pass through (3,-4) and are
(a) parallel to the line 2x + 5y = 8 and (b) perpendicular to the line 2x + 5y = 8 .
Solution: We must first determine the slope of the given line so we put it in slope-intercept form.
2x + 5y = 8
5y = −2x + 8€ €
2 8
y =− x+
5 5
€ 2
€ So the slope of the given line is − .
5
€ The slope of the parallel line will be the same so we can substitute this slope and the given point in
point-slope form which results in
2
y − (−4) = − (x − 3) €
5
which simplifies to
2 14
y=− x− .
5 5
€
The slope of the perpendicular line will be the negative of the reciprocal of the given line’s slope. So the
slope of the perpendicular line is 52 . Substituting this slope and the given point in point-slope form gives
€ 5
y − (−4) = (x − 3)
2
which simplifies to
5 23 €
y= x− .
2 2
€

(Thomason – Fall 2015) p. 3 of 3