Question

Write an equation for the line perpendicular to y=2x 4 that contains (3, -2)?

Answer 1

In the equation y = 2x + 4, you know that the gradient is 2 (the number before x).


for a perpendicular line you need the negative reciprocal of 2, which is - $\frac{1}{2}$ .

you then need to use the equation
y - $y_{1}$ = m(x - $x_{1}$ )

substitute in your coordinates:

y - -2 = - $\frac{1}{2}$ (x - 3)


simplify:
y + 2 = -0.5x + 1.5

rearrange:

y = - $\frac{1}{2} x$ - $\frac{1}{2}$