Math Snap

STEP 1

What is this asking?
We need to find the steepness of a line connecting two points, which is called the slope!
Watch out!
Don't mix up the $x$ and $y$ coordinates!
Also, remember the order matters in the slope formula.

STEP 2

1. Label the points
2. Apply the slope formula

STEP 3

Let's label our two points to keep things organized.
We'll call $(-9, 0)$ point 1, so $x_1 = -9$ and $y_1 = 0$.
And we'll call $(-17, 4)$ point 2, so $x_2 = -17$ and $y_2 = 4$.
See how neat and tidy that is?

STEP 4

The slope formula is $m = \frac{y_2 - y_1}{x_2 - x_1}$, where $m$ represents the slope.
It's basically the change in $y$ divided by the change in $x$.
Think "rise over run"!

STEP 5

Let's plug in our values: $m = \frac{4 - 0}{-17 - (-9)}$.
Notice how we're subtracting a negative number in the denominator.
That's the same as adding!

STEP 6

So, $m = \frac{4}{-17 + 9}$.
This simplifies to $m = \frac{4}{-8}$.

STEP 7

We can simplify this fraction by dividing both the numerator and denominator by their greatest common factor, which is 4.
So, $\frac{4}{-8} = \frac{4 \div 4}{-8 \div 4} = \frac{1}{-2}$.

STEP 8

Our final simplified slope is $-\frac{1}{2}$.

The slope of the line passing through the points $(-9, 0)$ and $(-17, 4)$ is $-\frac{1}{2}$.