slope
What would happen if your tried to run down
these steps?
Fancy Steps
Standard
Steps
The rise is the vertical
distance between steps.
The run is the horizontal
distance between steps.
Slope Worksheet
The slope of a line describes its steepness in a given coordinate system. For these exercises,
assume the slopes of all the lines are defined by the same coordinate system in which the
positive directions are to the right and up from the origin.
1. Since slope has to do with steepness
of a line, which of the lines ought to
have the largest number for its slope? _____
(a)
(b)
2. Which of these two lines should have
positive slope? _____
(a)
(b)
Which should have negative slope? _____
Mathematicians use numbers to represent slope. In a given coordinate system, steeper lines
have a larger slope.
Lines like this:
have positive slope.
Lines like this:
have negative slope.
You can remember this by recognizing that when you travel in the positive direction, you travel
uphill if it’s a positive slope and downhill if it’s a negative slope.
3. To get from (1, 1) to (4, 5), you need to
go up ______ and over ______. This
line has slope 4/3.
4. To get from (-1, 1) to (1, 4), you need to
go up ______ and over ______. This
line has slope 3/2.
(4, 5)
(1, 1)
5. This line has slope of ______.
(1, 4)
(-1, 1)
6. This line has slope of ______.
(4, 5)
(1, 3)
(1, 2)
(0, 0)
7. slope = ______
8. slope = ______
(-3, 2)
(3, -2)
(4, -1)
(1, -3)
9. slope = ______
10. slope = ______
(c, d)
(1, 1)
(6, 1)
Writing Assignment:
What do the terms “rise” and “run” have to do with slope?
(a, b)