Question

Find equation of the straight line that passes through the point (-1,1) and is perpendicular to 2y = 3x +2

Answer 1

3y = -2x + 1

Explanation:

Equation of given line is 2y = 3x + 2

==> y = (2/2)x + 1

Slope = 3/2

Slope of perpendicular line is negative of reciprocal of given line ie slope = -2/3

So equation of perpendicular line is of the form

y = (-2/3)x + c where c is a constant

Given that this passes thru x= -1, y =1 we can substitute these values in the above to get

1 = (-2/3)(-1) + c
This yields 1 = (2/3) + c or c = 1-2/3 = 1/3

So the equation of the perpendicular line is

y = (-2/3)x + 1/3

3y = -2x + 1