Slope of a straight line is the ratio

Question

Explain the slope of a straight line is the ratio of the vertical change to horizontal change between any two points on the line?

Answer 1

Straight line slope is the ratio of the vertical change to horizontal change between any two points on the line.

1. The slope of a line will be positive if both variables change in the same direction (a positive or direct relationship).

2. The slope of a line will be negative if the variables change in the opposite direction (an inverse or negative relationship).

3. The numerical value of the slope will depend on the way the relevant variables are measured.

4. Economic analysis is often concerned with marginal changes, the relative change in one variable with respect to another; it is this rate of change that is measured by the slope.

5. Lines that are parallel with either the horizontal or vertical axis indicate that the two variables are not related, i.e. change in one variable has no effect on the value of the other.

a. A vertical line has an infinite slope.

b. A horizontal line has a zero slope.