Is the leading coefficient of the function positive or negative?

Negative.

Step-by-step explanation:

To understand the question, you first must understand the slopes of different types of equations.

A linear equation: will travel from the third quadrant to the first.

If you plug in 2 for x, y will equal 4. Both values are positive, leading to a positive correlation.

A linear equation: will face the other direction, as shown in your attached image. When you plug in a positive number for x, like 5, y will equal -15, making the graph go up and left towards negative values.