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How to Find Slope Intercept With Two Points

The slope and the y-intercept are two identifying characteristics of linear equations. The slope is the rate of change and the y-intercept is the y-coordinate of the point that the line crosses the y-axis. If you have two points along the line, you can find the slope. From the slope, you can use one of the points to find the y-intercept. Knowing the slope and the y-intercept of a line helps you to write the equation for the line in slope-intercept form.

Things You'll Need

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Instructions

    • 1

      Calculate the difference between the x-coordinates of the points by subtracting the first x-coordinate from the second x-coordinate. For example, if your points are (-3,-5) and (0, 4), subtract -3 from 0 to get 3.

    • 2

      Calculate the difference between the y-coordinates of the points by subtracting the first y-coordinate from the second y-coordinate. For example, if your points are (-3,-5) and (0, 4), subtract -5 from 4 to get 9.

    • 3

      Divide the x-coordinate difference by the y-coordinate difference to find the slope. In this example, divide 3 by 9 to get 1/3.

    • 4

      Calculate the product of the slope and the first x-coordinate. In this example, multiply 1/3 by -3 to get -1.

    • 5

      Subtract the product of the slope and the first x-coordinate from the first y-coordinate from the first y-coordinate to find the y-intercept. In this example, subtract -1 from -5 to get a y-intercept of -4.

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