Question

How do you find the slope perpendicular to `6x + 2y = 4`?

Answer 1

Slope = `1/3`

Explanation:

In order to find the perpendicular slope, first find the slope of the line you have. To do this, rearrange the equation so that the y is on its own and make sure that y has nothing multiplied to it.

`6x+2y=4`

Move 6 to the other side. (Subtract 6 from both sides).

`2y=4-6x`

Divide everything by two (so that there's no number multiplied to y).

`y=4-3x`

From the equation, determine that the slope of original line `= -3`

The perpendicular slope is the negative reciprocal. You can also think of it as a slope and its perpendicular slope will always multiply to equal `-1`.

So, in this case, the slope `=1/3`