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Question 102253: A line passes through the origin and the point (-6, 5).
Write the equation of the line that passes through (-6, 5) and is perpendicular to the given line.
Write the final answer in the slope-intercept form y = mx + b.
(The slope and y-intercept must be written as fractions, when needed).
Answer by edjones(8007) (Show Source):
You can put this solution on YOUR website!
the slope of a line perpendicular to the given line is 
Solved by pluggable solver: FIND a line by slope and one point |
What we know about the line whose equation we are trying to find out:
- it goes through point (-6, 5)
- it has a slope of 1.2
First, let's draw a diagram of the coordinate system with point (-6, 5) plotted with a little blue dot:

Write this down: the formula for the equation, given point and intercept a, is
(see a paragraph below explaining why this formula is correct)
Given that a=1.2, and , we have the equation of the line:

Explanation: Why did we use formula ? Explanation goes here. We are trying to find equation y=ax+b. The value of slope (a) is already given to us. We need to find b. If a point ( , ) lies on the line, it means that it satisfies the equation of the line. So, our equation holds for ( , ): Here, we know a, , and , and do not know b. It is easy to find out: . So, then, the equation of the line is: .
Here's the graph:

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Ed
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