How do you find the slope of the line that passes through the points (1, 5) and (4, 1)?

To calculate the slope of a line that passes through two points, we use the slope formula:

Slope (m) = (y₂ – y₁) / (x₂ – x₁)

In this case, we have two points: (1, 5) and (4, 1). We can assign:

• (x₁, y₁) = (1, 5)
• (x₂, y₂) = (4, 1)

Now, we can plug these values into the slope formula:

m = (1 – 5) / (4 – 1)

Now, performing the calculations:

• y₂ – y₁ = 1 – 5 = -4
• x₂ – x₁ = 4 – 1 = 3

Substituting these values back into the formula gives us:

m = -4 / 3

Therefore, the slope of the line that passes through the points (1, 5) and (4, 1) is -4/3.

This means that for every 3 units you move to the right along the x-axis, you will move down 4 units along the y-axis. The negative slope indicates that the line is descending from left to right.