Curves: gradient: the straight line A reminder about how the gradient of a straight line is found Please enable Java for an interactive construction (with Cinderella). The gradient of a straight line is found by calculating "rise divided by step". Position point A at (0,-1) and B at (3,5). You should be able to see that in this case the rise is 6 and the step is 3. Therefore the gradient is 6/3 = 2.