The gradient of a straight line indicates how steep the line is. The gradient is calculated by taking the rise over the run between two points on the line. When the equation of a line is written in the form y=mx+c, the gradient m represents the slope and c represents the y-intercept. The gradient can be found by taking the difference of the y-coordinates and dividing by the difference of the x-coordinates between two points.

2. Gradient
• The Gradient of a straight line shows how
steep a straight line is.
• Gradient =
푑푖푓푓푒푟푒푛푐푒 푖푛 푦−푐표푟푑푖푛푎푡푒푠
푑푖푓푓푒푟푒푛푐푒 푖푛 푥−푐표표푟푑푖푛푎푡푒
푚 =
푦2 − 푦1
푥2 − 푥1

3. Examples
The Gradient of this line =
3
3
= 1
Gradient =
4
2
= 2
The line is steeper, and so the Gradient is larger

4. The form y=mx+c
When the equation of a straight line is written in the form
y=mx+c, the gradient of the line m and the intercept on the y-axis
is c.
Slope or gradient
(how steep the line is)
Y intercept (where the
line across the y axis)

5. Finding the equation
of line
(-3,-6) (0,4)
m =
−4 −(−6)
0 −(−3)
=
2
3
푚 =
푦2 − 푦1
푥2 − 푥1
푦 = 푚푥 + 푐