How do you find the slope of a line? And how can you tell which point is x or which one is y

To find the slope of a line, you need two points that lie on the line. Let's call one point (x₁, y₁) and the other point (x₂, y₂). The formula for slope, denoted as m, is:

m = (y₂ - y₁) / (x₂ - x₁)

To clarify which point is x and which one is y, remember that "x" represents the horizontal coordinate and "y" represents the vertical coordinate. Typically, x is listed first, followed by y in an ordered pair.

For example, let's say you have two points: A(2, 6) and B(-3, 1). In this case, A represents the point (x₁, y₁) and B represents the point (x₂, y₂).

Calculating the slope using the formula, we have:

m = (1 - 6) / (-3 - 2)
= -5 / -5
= 1

Therefore, the slope of the line passing through points A and B is 1. Just keep in mind that the order of the points determines which subscript (e.g., x₁, y₁) corresponds to which point.