Question

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

Answer 1

`1/2`

Explanation:

First set the equation in terms of `y`:

To do this, subtract `2x` from both sides:

`cancel(2x-2x)+y=4-2x`

`y=4-2x`

To find the perpendicular slope or `m_|_` we first must find the slope of the equation given: The slope is the number that is next to the variable and not the constant. The slope(`m`) in this case is `-2`

To find the perpendicular slope algebraically, we use the following: `m_|_=-1/m` because it is the negative reciprocal of the original slope. We then plug in `-2` for `m`:

`m_|_=-1/-2=1/2`

`:.` the perpendicular slope is `1/2`