What is the equation of the line that passes through (2,- 1) and ( - 10,4)?

1 Answer
May 14, 2017

y-(-1)=-5/12(x-2) or y=-5/12x-2/12

Explanation:

First, find the slope:

Slope is defined as m=(y_2-y_1)/(x_2-x_1)

It doesn't really matter which you call (x_1,y_1). I'll just call the first one that. So:

m=(4-(-1))/(-10-2)=5/-12

So now we have the slope. We can plug into the point-slope form which is:

y-y_1=m(x-x_1)

Again, it doesn't really matter what you call (x_1,y_1). I'll call the first one that:

y-(-1)=-5/12(x-2)

You could leave it like this but I assume you would like it in slope intercept form which is y=mx+b. To do this, solve for y

y+1=-5/12x+10/12

y=-5/12x-2/12

y=-5/12x-1/6