You first have to find the slope using the slope formula. That looks like this with our values: [tex] \frac{-2-(-1)}{5-(-3)}=- \frac{1}{8} [/tex]. So the slope is -1/8. Use one of the points to first write the equation in y = mx + b form. We have an x and a y to use from one of the points and we also have the slope we just found. Filling in accordingly to solve for b gives us [tex]-2=5(- \frac{1}{8})+b [/tex] and [tex]-2=- \frac{5}{8}+b [/tex]. Adding 5/8 to both sides and getting a common denominator gives us that [tex]b=- \frac{11}{8}[/tex]. Writing our slope-intercept form we have [tex]y=- \frac{1}{8}x- \frac{11}{8} [/tex]. Standard form for a line is Ax + By = C...no fractions allowed. So let's get rid of that 8 by multiplying each term by 8 to get 8y = -x - 11. Add x to both sides to get it into the correct form: x + 8y = -11
