Answer:
a) Negative slope
[tex]m=-\frac{5}{8}[/tex]
Step-by-step explanation:
The graph of the given line is shown in the attachment.
We can see from the grap that, the line is sloping backwards.
Therefore the line has a negative slope.
The given points are (-1,-3) and (7,-8).
We use the formula [tex]m=\frac{y_2-y_1}{x_2-x_1}[/tex] to find the slope of this line.
[tex]\implies m=\frac{-8--3}{7--1}[/tex]
[tex]\implies m=\frac{-8+3}{7+1}[/tex]
[tex]\implies m=-\frac{5}{8}[/tex]
We can confirm from the result of our calculation that the slope is actually negative.
