Question

Choose the slope-intercept equation of the line that passes through the point (4, -6) and is parallel to y = - 1/2 x + 5. (3 points)
y = -2x + 2
y = 2x - 14
y = x - 8
y = - x - 4

Answer 1

First, it is important to understand that parallel lines have the same slope. Therefore, based on the formula y=mx+b in which m represents slope and based on the equation y=-1/2x+5, the slope of the unknown line is also -1/2. Then, there are two different ways to solve this problem using different formulas.

The first method to find the unknown equation is easy but not widely known. We can use the point slope formula which is (y-y1)=m(x-x1) in which we can plug a point and slope to find the equation. When we plug in the values given, we get y+6=-1/2(x-4) or y+6 =-1/2x+2 which simplifies to y=-1/2x-4.

The other method is using the slope intercept form or y=mx+b. When we plug in our slope and our point, we get -6=-1/2*4+b or -6=-2+b so b must equal -4, therefore we have all the information we need to plug values into y=mx+b. When we plug in our slope and y-intercept, we get y=-1/2x-4 which is the answer.

I hope this helps!