A section of a hiking trail begins at the coordinates (-7, 5) and follows a straight path that ends at the coordinates (3, 9). What is the rate of change of the hiking trail?
up 4 in horizontal 10
so 4/10 = .4
To find the rate of change of the hiking trail, we need to calculate the slope of the straight path between the given coordinates.
The slope of a line passing through two points (x1, y1) and (x2, y2) can be calculated using the formula:
slope = (y2 - y1) / (x2 - x1)
In this case, the coordinates are (-7, 5) and (3, 9).
Plugging in the values:
slope = (9 - 5) / (3 - (-7))
slope = 4 / 10
slope = 0.4
Therefore, the rate of change of the hiking trail is 0.4.