Which line represents the perpendicular of the Lin x + 8y = 16

Question

Perpendicular

Answer 1

Hi Ayden,

Perpendicular lines have negative reciprocal slopes, so you need to find the slope of your line and then get a slope perpendicular to it. To get your line's slope:

x + 8y = 16

Change to slope-intercept form: y = mx + b, m = slope, b = y-intercept

8y = 16 - x

y = 2 - 1/8x

y = -1/8x + 2

m = -1/8

Slope of a perpendicular line will be the negative reciprocal of -1/8, which is 8.

So, one perpendicular line would be:

y = 8x or 8x - y = 0

But you could add any constant that interests you--i.e. y = 8x +3, 8x + 8, etc. All have negative reciprocal slopes to the initial equation. I hope this helps.