There are many Java applets in the pages of this course. Two examples are shown below.
The Java applet below shows a line, the coordinates of two points on the line and the line's slope. If you drag either of the points to a new location, all of the information is updated. You also may edit the coordinates of the points in the text boxes, then press enter to update the information. Note that some browsers will not read the point correctly if there are spaces. If you have trouble editing coordinates of points, try removing all spaces from the text boxes.
Exercise 1:
Use the slope formula to compute the slopes of the lines with the following pairs of points. Use the Slope Applet to check your answers.
(a) (-2, 1) and (3,5).
(b) (6, -2) and (-4, 5).
(c) (-2.3, -1.6) and (5.7, 3.9).
Exercise 2:
Use the Slope Applet to find a line whose slope is -3/4 = -0.75. Apply the slope formula to the points reported by the applet and verify that the slope is -0.75.
The applet below illustrates the fact that five points in the plane determine a degree four polynomial (quartic) function. Five points are represented by small circles. The quartic function determined by the points is written in the text box below the graph, and its graph is drawn in the coordiante plane. As you drag any of the points the graph and functions are updated.