Remembering positive or negative gradients

A is negative and B is positive

Line A is negative.

Line B is positive.

To remember this:

Starting from the left if you can pedal downwards its negative, if you can walk up it its positive

Going from left to right

Push positively (+)
Down Dash quickly (-)

A graph is read from left to right.

If a mountaineer goes up the mountain his gradient will be positive

As the mountaineer travels from left to right he goes up the side of the mountain and increases in height (+ve) as this side of the mountain has a positive gradient (+ve).

If a mountaineer goes down the mountain his gradient will be negative

A second mountaineer is also travelling from left to right having already reached the top she is descending in height (-ve) as this side of the mountain has a negative gradient (-ve).