How do you graph the line through (4,0) parallel to 5x + y +4 = 0?

1 Answer
Apr 21, 2017

Find parallel slope, make a line with that slope that goes through the point

Explanation:

If the line is parallel to

#5x+y+4=0#

Then it has the same slope. To find the slope it may be helpful to rearrange the equation as follows:

#y=-5x-4#

So we should be able to tell from here that the slope is -5. If you can't see that I would suggest this.

Anyway, now that we know what the slope is, we know the equation of our line is something like:

#y=-5x+b#

Where b is some number (you may have seen it as a different letter, but it's just a variable so the letter doesn't matter). To find b, set x and y to the values at the point the line must pass through.

#(0)=-5(4)+b#
#20=b#

So now we know the equation of our line is
#y=-5x+20#

I'm assuming you know how to graph lines (if not, just google it or ask another question on this site), so I won't go into the details of how to graph this one, but the above equation is the line you would graph.