What is the slope of the line perpendicular to #8x - 3y = -5#?

1 Answer
Jarob R G.
Apr 7, 2018

#m' = -1/4#

Explanation:

To find the slope of the line perpendicular to any line #l#, you must first find the slope of #l#.

To find the slope of #8x - 3y = -5#, we manipulate it into slope-intercept form, #y = mx + b#.

#8x - 2y = -5#,
#-2y = -5 - 8x#,
#2y = 5 + 8x#
#y = 5/2 + 4x#,
#y = 4x + 5/2#.

We see that the slope of our given line, then, is #m = 4#. The slope of the line perpendicular to a line with slope #m# is given by #m' = -1/m#. So the slope we are looking for is #m' = -1/m = -1/4#.

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