Answer:
Yes, the lines are parallel. This is because the lines have the same slope. The slope of a line is a measure of how steep the line is, and it is calculated by taking the difference of the y-coordinates of two points on the line and dividing it by the difference of the x-coordinates of the same two points. In this case, the slope of line a is -1, and the slope of line b is also -1. Because the lines have the same slope, they are parallel to each other.