Question 1 of 10:

What is the slope of the line described by the equation below?

[tex] y - 5 = -3(x - 17) [/tex]

A. 5
B. -5
C. 3
D. -3



Answer :

To determine the slope of the line described by the given equation, we need to rewrite the equation in the standard slope-intercept form of a linear equation, which is [tex]\( y = mx + b \)[/tex], where [tex]\( m \)[/tex] represents the slope of the line and [tex]\( b \)[/tex] represents the y-intercept.

The given equation is:
[tex]\[ y - 5 = -3(x - 17) \][/tex]

This equation is already in the point-slope form, which is [tex]\( y - y_1 = m(x - x_1) \)[/tex], where [tex]\( m \)[/tex] is the slope of the line, and [tex]\( (x_1, y_1) \)[/tex] is a point on the line.

From the equation:
[tex]\[ y - 5 = -3(x - 17) \][/tex]

It's clear that the coefficient of [tex]\((x - 17)\)[/tex] is the slope ([tex]\( m \)[/tex]). By comparing this with the point-slope form, we can directly see that the slope [tex]\( m \)[/tex] is [tex]\(-3\)[/tex].

Thus, the slope of the line described by the equation is:
[tex]\[ \boxed{-3} \][/tex]

Therefore, the correct answer is:
D. -3

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