Question

Find the slope of a line that is parallel and the slope of a line that is perpendicular to each line whose equation is given. Please only do number one and show me all the steps you did.

Answer 1

The equations above are all in the format $y = mx + c$, where $m$ = the gradient, or slope.

So, in the first question, $y = 4x + 2$, the gradient would be 4, because 4 is $m$ in this equation (the number before the $x$).

The gradient of a line perpendicular to this line is equal to the negative reciprocal of the gradient of the line. A better way to explain it is if $m$ = the gradient of the line and <u />$m'$ = the gradient of the perpendicular line then:
$m' = - \frac{1}{m}$

So in the first question, the gradient of the perpendicular line is $- \frac{1}{4}$.