Find the equation of the line in slope-intercept form satisfying the given condition:

Question

passing through (-5,2) and parallel to a line with slope -1/5

Answer 1

Parallel means it has the same slope, so if you are parallel to a line with a slope of -1/5 then

the slope of your line is the same.

 

Now take the equation

 

y = mx + b and plug in the values of x,y and m(slope)

 

You then can solve for b

 

Last step is to write your answer as

 

y = mx+b    with the known values of m and b that you just calculated.

 

If you need more help, please reply

Answer 2

By definition, two lines that are parallel have the same slope.  Therefore, our new line must have the given slope of the original line, -1/5.

 

Using the slope-intercept general form, y = mx + b, we can now plug in the slope, giving

 

y = -1/5 x + b

 

The next part is the trick.  We are given the known point (-5,2).  These are now plugged in as x and y values:

 

2 = -1/5 (-5) + b

 

2 =  1 + b (simplifying

 

Now we simply solve for b by subtracting one from both sides:

 

1 = b

 

Finally, put everything we know back in slope-intercept form:

 

y = -1/5 x + 1  <---(ANS)