How do you find the slope of a line perpendicular to #y = 2 - 5x#?

2 Answers
May 1, 2018

To find perpendicular gradient, #m1 * m2 = -1#

Explanation:

Remember that the slope of the line is known as gradient, and is often represented as #m#

First rearrange the function into the gradient-intercept form #y = mx+c#:

#y = 5x - 2#

Here we can see that the gradient of the function is 5, because #m = 5#

Next use #m1 * m2 = -1# , to find the perpendicular gradient.

#5 * m2 = -1#
#(5 * m2)/5 = -1/5#
#m2 = -1/5#, or -0.2.

The perpendicular gradient is -0.2

May 1, 2018

Slope of a line perpendicular to # y= -5 x +2 # is #1/5#

Explanation:

Slope of the line, # y= -5 x +2 ; [y=m x+c]#

is #m_1= -5# .The product of slopes of the perpendicular lines is

#m_1*m_2=-1:.m_2=(-1)/m_1=(-1)/-5=1/5#. Therefore, slope of

a line perpendicular to # y= -5 x +2 # is #1/5# [Ans]