• The following formula can be used to find the slope of a line:
[tex]m=\frac{y_2-y_1}{x_2-x_1}[/tex]These points are on the line:
[tex](x_1,y_1);(x_2,y_2)[/tex]Given the following points:
[tex]\mleft(-4,7\mright);(-1,-3)[/tex]Then, you can set up that:
[tex]\begin{gathered} y_2=-3_{} \\ y_1=7 \\ x_2=-1 \\ x_1=-4 \end{gathered}[/tex]Therefore, substituting values into the formula and evaluating, you get:
[tex]\begin{gathered} m=\frac{-3-7}{-1-(-4)} \\ \\ m=\frac{-10}{-1+4} \\ \\ m=-\frac{10}{3} \end{gathered}[/tex]• As you can notice, the slope is negative. Therefore, you can determine that it is decreasing.
Therefore, the answers are:
• Slope of the line:
[tex]m=-\frac{10}{3}[/tex]• It is decreasing.
