Now that we know the slope, let's form our equations. We will find them one at a time.
Point-Slope Form
Equations in point-slope form follow a specific format.
y- y_1= m(x- x_1)
In this form, m is the slope of the line and ( x_1, y_1) is a point on the line.
Since we know the slope of the line is - 58, we can write the equation of the line in point-slope form. We can use either of the given points as (x_1,y_1) in our equation. Let's use ( 5, -1).
Please note that any point on the line can be used to form a point-slope equation. Therefore, our equation is only one of infinitely many possible equations!
Slope-Intercept Form
Equations in slope-intercept form also follow a specific format.
y= mx+b,
In this form, m represents the slope of the line and b represents the y-intercept.
We already calculated the slope as m= - 58 above. The next step is to substitute one of the points into the equation and solve for the y-intercept, b. Let's use the point ( 5, -1).