A line has a slope of –5 and a y-intercept of (0, 3). What is the equation of the line that is perpendicular to the first line and passes through the point (3, 2)?

Question

marissalovescats · Answer

Hi welcome to OpenStudy!! We're glad you're here :)

Okay so do you know the rule on the slopes of perpendicular lines?

marissalovescats · Answer

So in our first line, it tells us that the slope of it is -5. 

This means the slope of the line perpendicular to it is the negative reciprocal. 

How to find that is doing -1/slope. 

So the slope given is -5. So the slope of the line perpendicular to it is -1/-5. The negatives cancel making the slope of the line perpendicular to the other 1/5.

marissalovescats · Answer

So we know this new line has a slope of 1/5 because it is perpendicular to the line with a slope of -5. 

It tells us that the line perpendicular to the other goes through the point (3,2).

anonymous · Answer

thank ya XD jus know seen your replies

marissalovescats · Answer

So it goes through point (3,2) and has a slope of 1/5. 

This is called point-slope form. When you are given a slope and a point (like we have here 1/5 is slope and point is (3,2)) we plug it into this to find our equation. |dw:1403114377445:dw|