75.9k views
5 votes
What's the slope
of a line
perpendicular to
y = 4x + 3

User Zmbq
by
7.8k points

1 Answer

5 votes

keeping in mind that perpendicular lines have negative reciprocal slopes, let's check for the slope of the equation above


\bf y = \stackrel{\stackrel{m}{\downarrow }}{4}x+3\qquad \impliedby \begin{array} \cline{1-1} slope-intercept~form\\ \cline{1-1} \\ y=\underset{y-intercept}{\stackrel{slope\qquad }{\stackrel{\downarrow }{m}x+\underset{\uparrow }{b}}} \\\\ \cline{1-1} \end{array} \\\\[-0.35em] ~\dotfill


\bf \stackrel{\textit{perpendicular lines have \underline{negative reciprocal} slopes}} {\stackrel{slope}{4\implies \cfrac{4}{1}}\qquad \qquad \qquad \stackrel{reciprocal}{\cfrac{1}{4}}\qquad \stackrel{negative~reciprocal}{-\cfrac{1}{4}}}

User ItsASecret
by
7.0k points