Question

Line j has an equation of y= 1 /5 x+7. Perpendicular to line j is line k, which passes through the point (– 1,– 3). What is the equation of line k

Answer 1

y = -5x -8

Explanation:

The slope must be the negative reciprocal(-5). So we have y = -5x + b, where we need to find b. To do that, we will plug in the known point. This gives us
`-3 = -1 * -5 + b`, or
`-3 = 5 + b`. We subtract 5 from both sides to get b = -8.