Saturday, October 1, 2011
SLOPE
Intercepts and slopes are two building blocks for many things we will learn this year. It is crucial to understand slope in the context of an equation referred to as y=mx+b. Can you identify which part of this equation is the slope? (m) is the slope of the equation, but what on earth is a slope? A slope is a mathematical word used for the steepness of a line. Many have learned it as rise over run, or as I learned it, delta Y over delta X. The slope can be used to get from any point on a line to the next. By starting at a point on aline, the slope can be used to rise up, and run over to the next point. There are a few different kinds of slope as well. A positive slope is a line that ascends when looking left to right. A negative slope descends looking left to right, and no slope moves neither up nor down looking left to right. Hope this leaves you with a better understanding of the critical concept of slope.
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Thanks Alison. I like how you incorporate several different definitions of slope, and how you talk about positive, negative and no slope.
ReplyDeleteA couple of questions for you:
1. Why did you decide to mix in all the colors? I think color can be used effectively but, in this case, I think it makes it harder to read. What do you think?
2. I think I would've liked to see perhaps a diagram or two to go along with this, and perhaps some real-world application of slope to try to put it in context for your reader.