What is the slope of the line represented by the equation y = 7?

1 Answer
Jul 30, 2016

If we tried to find the slope, we would get a number divided by 0. Dividing by 0 is impossible, so the slope is undefined .

Explanation:

Let's say we chose two points on the line, (7,-2) and (7,9) for example. Let's try to find the slope. This is our equation:

(y_2-y_1)/(x_2-x_1)

Let's now substitute the variables for numbers:

y_2=9
y_1=-2
x_2=7
x_1=7

(9--2)/(7-7)=11/0

As you can see, the number (11) is divided by 0. We all know that dividing by 0 is impossible. When we have situations like these, we call the slope undefined. Therefore, our slope is undefined.