2006-12-12 09:40:24 · 7 answers · asked by poke 2 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Mathematics
well, there are many symbols can stand for slope
for example, when I first learned about line, it was : y = ax+b
and then, when I studied more , I saw that it also was y = tx + b
so there is no problem about the symbol, you can use whatever you want, as long as you can cope with it
2006-12-12 09:58:09 · answer #1 · answered by James Chan 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It just does. Some people credit it to some French word or something like that... You could make the slope equation y=ux+b if you wanted to. M is just a variable, therefore it is interchangeable, but m is usually understood to stand for slope of a line.
2006-12-12 17:45:26 · answer #2 · answered by Noah 2 · 0⤊ 1⤋
The short answer is that nobody really knows. People always use it for the sake of convention, but it's still not known why it was chosen in the first place. You can find more info here: http://mathworld.wolfram.com/Slope.html
2006-12-16 03:02:05 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
The same reason I stands for current. Sometimes the all of the good variabels are taken up.
2006-12-12 17:44:19 · answer #4 · answered by scubamasterme 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
because s would confuse neanderthals like u...
2006-12-12 17:49:05 · answer #5 · answered by srdfghs 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
I assume you're talking about "y = mx + c"
well.....why not?
2006-12-12 17:44:49 · answer #6 · answered by Tom :: Athier than Thou 6 · 1⤊ 1⤋
m can be any integer
2006-12-12 17:50:17 · answer #7 · answered by Linda 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋