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.

Related questions
See all questions in Equations of Perpendicular Lines
Impact of this question
4690 views around the world
You can reuse this answer
Creative Commons License