Question

How do you find the slope that is perpendicular to the line `y = -3x + 4`?

Answer 1

See a solution process below:

Explanation:

This equation is in slope-intercept form. The slope-intercept form of a linear equation is: `y = color(red)(m)x + color(blue)(b)`

Where `color(red)(m)` is the slope and `color(blue)(b)` is the y-intercept value.

Therefore, the slope of this line is: `color(red)(m) = -3`

Let's call the slope of a perpendicular line: `m_p`

There formula for the slope of a perpendicular line is the negative inverse of the slope or:

`m_p = -1/m`

Substituting for `m` gives the slope of a perpendicular line as:

`m_p = (-1)/-3 = 1/3`