A line on a coordinate plane passes through (0,0) and (4,2). What is its slope?

A line on a coordinate plane passes through (0,0) and (4,2). What is its slope?

• A. 1/2
• B. 2
• C. -1
• D. 0

Answer: (A)

Slope measures how steep a line is, calculated as the change in y divided by the change in x between two points on the line. For (0,0) and (4,2), the rise is 2 and the run is 4, so the slope is 2/4 = 1/2. This means the line rises 1 unit for every 2 units it moves to the right. The other values would imply different rises or directions (a larger slope would need a smaller run for the same rise, a negative slope would go down as you move right, and a slope of 0 would be a flat line).

Slope measures how steep a line is, calculated as the change in y divided by the change in x between two points on the line. For (0,0) and (4,2), the rise is 2 and the run is 4, so the slope is 2/4 = 1/2. This means the line rises 1 unit for every 2 units it moves to the right. The other values would imply different rises or directions (a larger slope would need a smaller run for the same rise, a negative slope would go down as you move right, and a slope of 0 would be a flat line).