Question

what is slope?

Answer 1

Slope is defined as rise/run, it is denoted with m in the point slope formula and is also called gradient.

The slope of any equation can be found by finding the derivative of the equation and making it equal to zero.

Answer 2

Think about walking up a hill. Slope answers two important questions.
1) is it UPHILL? or DOWNHILL? A positive slope says that, as I walk left to right, the hill goes up. A negative slope says that as I walk left to right, the hill goes down. The third thing that could happen is that the slope is 0. That would just be like not a hill at all, perfectly flat.

2) How STEEP is that dang hill? A slope of 2 is twice as steep as a slope of 1. A slope of 4 is twice as steep as a slope of 2. The bigger the number, the steeper that hill.