Question

Will fan and medal if you help with this question.

Answer 1

What's your question?

Answer 2

What is the slope of the line in the xy-plane that
passes through the points —5/2—, 1 and —1/2—, 4 ?

Answer 3

HI!!

Answer 4

Okay, So have you tryed o firgure this out?

Answer 5

that is kind of hard to read, the points i mean `

Answer 6

If I had the formula I think I could figure it out.

Answer 7

s it \[\huge \left(\frac{5}{2},1\right)\] and \[\huge \left(\frac{1}{2},4\right)\]?

Answer 8

formula is easy enough, answer above was taken directly from some other site and has nothing to do with this quesiton

Answer 9

slope is \[\frac{y_2-y_1}{x_2-x_1}\] in your example \[x_1=\frac{5}{2},y_1=1,x_2=\frac{1}{2},y_2=4\] if i read it correctly

Answer 10

Okay before there is bloodshed... the fractions are negative which is confusing me

Answer 11

And fractions confuse me one their own. Is there an example that could be shown with negative fractions as values ?

Answer 12

Please use the slope formula (shared by Misty, above) in a first effort to calculate the slope of the line connecting those two points. If you'd do that much, it'd be much easier for others to give you feedback regarding those negative fractions.

Answer 13

Example: 5 - (-2) = 7. Can you explain what's happening here?

Example 2: (5/3) - (-2/3) = 7/3

Answer 14

\[m=slope=\frac{y_2-y_1}{x_2-x_1}\]

Answer 15

Ok I think I have it. Can solve really quickly and have you check my answer?

Answer 16

Borrowing from Misty:

\[x_1=\frac{5}{2},y_1=1,x_2=\frac{1}{2},y_2=4\]

Answer 17

Substitute these values into the slope formula.
Happy to check your answer IF you share all of your work.

Answer 18

Happy to share all my work especially if I get the answer wrong

Answer 19

I am on OS via mobile phone....so my functions will look a little funny. Is that okay

Answer 20

1. 1-4/(-5/2)-(-1/2)
2. -3/ (-4/2)
3. -3/-2

@mathmale

Answer 21

@misty1212
@ pink33
May you please check my answer?

Answer 22

Looks good, just cancel the negatives

Answer 23

Okay thank you everyone! !!!!!!!

Answer 24

Thanks for sharing your work.

Note that ambiguity arises when you type in fractions such as 1-4/(-5/2)-(-1/2)
because it's difficult to know which operation to perform first, which second, and so on.

Going back to the formula, and to the given data, you want:\[m=slope=\frac{ 4-1 }{ 1/2-5/2 }\]

Answer 25

whereas you typed in 1-4/(-5/2)-(-1/2).

You could make your intentions clearer by using more parentheses. Set the numerator apart from the denom. by writing, first,

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

If you do this, the parentheses tell you exactly what to do first: find 1-4. Next, evaluate 1/2-5/2.

ONLY THEN should you do the indicated division.

Answer 26

What is the slope here?

1-4=?

( 1/2 - 5/2 )=?

Answer 27

@mathmale he did it right. You missed some of the negatives.

Answer 28

The burden of proof is on you, @agent0smith. Where did I miss some negatives?

Answer 29

The 5/2 and 1/2 are both negative

Answer 30

1. 1-4/(-5/2)-(-1/2)
2. -3/ (-4/2)
3. -3/-2

This would be correct were you to enclose that "1-4" inside parentheses. Likewise, enclose (-5/2-(-1/2) ) inside parentheses.

1-4/(-5/2)-(-1/2) ambiguous

(1-4) / ( (-5/2)-(-1/2) ) clear

Answer 31

@agent0smith

Answer 32

He's on his phone, it's pretty tedious writing math on a phone. I could follow his work just fine

Answer 33

Prove your point, please.

Note that my main concern was AMBIGUITY. Parentheses remove such ambiguities. Whether someone is on a cell phone or not is beside the point; clarity is essential, no matter how you're inputting the problem.

Answer 34

I don't even know what point I'm meant to prove...? His work, in its entirety, with the three steps, followed very easily.

Putting in lots of parentheses does NOT make things easy to read. It may make them mathematically correct, but not easy to read. Latex makes things easy to read.

Answer 35

The three steps removed ambiguity since you could tell he was doing operations correctly.

Answer 36

You're welcome to share your opinions, @agent0smith, but I have not found any of your contributions to this particular post to be helpful, nor do I believe they were helpful to Shadowdragon (who started out labelling himself "confused" in regard to operations with fractions. Clarity in presentation is essential where math problem solving is involved. There are certain common standards for such presentations, so that one mathematician (or student, by the way) can readily interpret another's presentation without having to make assumptions or mental corrections for missing parentheses.

Assuming that the following are correct:\[x_1=\frac{5}{2},y_1=1,x_2=\frac{1}{2},y_2=4\]
defend your statement, "The 5/2 and 1/2 are both negative." I disagree.

Answer 37

@mathmale look at the first few posts by shadowdragon:

"What is the slope of the line in the xy-plane that
passes through the points —5/2—, 1 and —1/2—, 4 ?"

"Okay before there is bloodshed... the fractions are negative which is confusing me"

Answer 38

Thank you @agent0smith for sticking up for me. @mathmale While your feedback was informative, your response was highly over zealous. Math does not have to be ambiguous, just correct or incorrect. What you are saying in your initial post is that a couple parentheses and a space would aid you in reading the problem better, I do not see how that could spark such an over reaction.