Identify an equation in point slope form for the line parallel to y= 1/2x - 7 that passes through (-3, -2)

Answer 1

Parallel lines have the same slope

The slope of the line whose equation is y = (1/2)x - 7, is 1/2

Use point-slope form

(y + 2) = (1/2)(x + 3)

Answer 2

There are three main things you need to know for this problem:

*What is the "point-slope form" of a linear equation?

*What is the relationship between the slopes of two parallel lines?

*How do you find the slope in the original equation (which is in slope-intercept form)?

The point-slope form is

y - y₁ = m(x - x₁)

where the ordered pair (x₁ , y₁) is a point on the line and m represents the slope of the line.

Since we know (-3, -2) is a point on the line, we can plug in those coordinates to get:

y - (-2) = m(x - (-3)).

This can be simplified to: y + 2 = m(x + 3) .

Now we only need to figure out the slope m.

If you look at the graphs of two parallel lines, you should notice something about the slopes of the two lines.

While they don't cross the y-axis at the same place, the parallel lines always have the same slope. (You can verify this by graphing two random parallel lines and computing the slope of each.)

You were given the original equation: y = (1/2)x - 7 .

This is in slope-intercept form, so what is the slope of this line?

I think this will be enough to get you started. If you aren't sure how to finish this, let me know.