Aline in the cartesian plane passes through the points (–2, 4) and (2, –1). what are the rise and the run of the line?

Whether you call it "rise and run", slope, velocity, it all means the rate of change.  Which for a line is constant and it is mathematically:

m=(y2-y1)/(x2-x1), in this case:

m=(-1-4)/(2--2)

m=-5/4 or if you prefer

m=-1.25

Which means that your rise and run is -1.25 to 1.

For every increase in run by one unit, the rise, or height, decreases by 1.25 units.