Question

Points (2, 0) and (0, 3) lie on line k. What is the slope of the line that is perpendicular to k?

Answer 1

Slope is defined as the change in x over the change in y. To find the change in x, subtract one of the x values from the other. To find y, subtract one of the y values from the other. It doesn't matter which order you do it in, but ALWAYS do it in the same order for both x and y.

For the given points we get:

(2-0)/(0-3)

Which becomes:

-2/3

So the slope of our first line is -2/3. But we need to find the slope of the perpendicular line. To find the slope of a perpendicular line, we have to switch the numerator with the denominator (top number with the bottom number), then multiply by -1.

Doing this gives us 3/2.