I'm having trouble with slope and rate of change. Are they the same thing? How do you find them?

Question

amistre64 · Answer

they are related yes, not quite the same thing tho, but related

amistre64 · Answer

slope is defined as:$$\frac{f(x+h)-f(x)}{(x+h)-h}$$
this is also known as the average rate of change.

there is a concept known as the instantaneous rate of change which is defined as:$$\lim_{h\to\ 0}\frac{f(x+h)-f(x)}{(x+h)-h}$$

amistre64 · Answer

ugh, (x+h) - x is the understuff .... had a typo

ny,ny · Answer

so what's slope = rise/run

amistre64 · Answer

thats a good way to look at it yes

amistre64 · Answer

rise is the change in the value of y

run is the change in the value of x

amistre64 · Answer

if we rise by 2 as we run, or move, to the right by 7

slope is just 2/7

amistre64 · Answer

if we drop by 3 as we move to the right by 4

the slope is defined as -3/4

ny,ny · Answer

so if i'm asked to find the slope of some graph thing... like |dw:1335829695833:dw| 
what do i do first. I have to do something with two points and then use $$slope=y ^{2}-y ^{1}/x ^{2}-x ^{1}$$... and yeah.... sorry i didn't understand in class. :P