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Short answer: No one knows.

Long answer: Some people speculate it's short for "modulus". Others suggest that it's m because the letters m, n, p, etc, are used to represent parameters. But there's no substantial evidence for either claim.

It definitely doesn't come from the French verb to climb, monter. Noted French mathematicians such as Rene Descartes never used m to designate slope. French math courses today use the form y = ax + c.

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13y ago

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Q: Why does the m mean slope?
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