The slope of a linear relationship gives the constant rate of change of one of the variables in terms of the other. A nonlinear relationship has a different slope at every point. The meaning of the slope is still the same.

   We show a green line tangent to the curve at point A. The slope of the tangent line is the slope of the curve at that point. At point A the curve has a slope of 1/4, which means that $ increases by 1 unit for every 4 units increase in Q. At point B the slope of the curve, shown by the orange tangent line, is 1/2 while at C the curve has become much steeper, with a slope of 3.



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