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The measure of the steepness of a curve (often a straight line). It is defined as the ratio of vertical change (rise) to horizontal change (run) for a non-vertical line. In rectangular Cartesian coordinates, the gradient is the rate at which the y-coordinate changes with respect to the x-coordinate.
For a line such as y = 3x + 1, the gradient is +3 because y increases by 3 for every unit increase in x.
For a curve, the gradient changes from point to point. It can be obtained using derivatives.
