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Find the slope of a line perpendicular to the line whose equation is 3x - 6y = -72. Fully simplify your answer.

A. -1/2
B. 2/3
C. -3/2
D. 3/2

User Gary Liu
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1 Answer

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Final answer:

The correct slope of a line perpendicular to the line given by the equation 3x - 6y = -72 is -2, since the original line's slope is 1/2 and perpendicular slopes are negative reciprocals.

Step-by-step explanation:

To find the slope of a line which is perpendicular to the line given by the equation 3x - 6y = -72, we first need to write the equation in slope-intercept form, which is y = mx + b. Here, m represents the slope and b represents the y-intercept. We can solve for y to get the slope-intercept form:

  • 3x - 6y = -72
  • 6y = 3x + 72
  • y = (1/2)x + 12

The slope m of this line is 1/2. The slope of a line perpendicular to this one will be the negative reciprocal of 1/2, which is -2. Therefore, the correct answer is B. 2/3.

User Lawanna
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