Question

What is the slope of any line perpendicular to the line passing through `(4,-7)` and `(1,-12)`?

Answer 1

`-3/5`

Explanation:

Let the slope of the line passing through the given points be `m`.

`m=(-12-(-7))/(1-4)=(-12+7)/-3=(-5)/-3=5/3`

Let the slope of the line perpendicular to the line passing through the given points be `m'`.

Then `m*m'=-1 implies m'=-1/m=-1/(5/3)=-3/5`

`implies m'=-3/5`

Hence, the slope of the required line is `-3/5`.