Note: For questions 17–19, your teacher will grade your responses to ensure you receive proper credit for your answers.
Which triangle can be used to find the slope of the line shown? Explain your answer.
A line and two right triangles are shown on the coordinate plane.
1 answer
The triangle that can be used to find the slope of the line is the right triangle that has one leg parallel to the x-axis and the other leg parallel to the y-axis. This is because the slope of a line can be found by taking the ratio of the vertical change (the change in y-coordinates) to the horizontal change (the change in x-coordinates) between two points on the line. In this case, the vertical leg of the right triangle represents the change in y-coordinates and the horizontal leg represents the change in x-coordinates. Therefore, by using the right triangle's legs, we can find the slope of the line.