SOLUTION: Determine the value of "a" so that the line through (5,8) and (a,6) has a slope of -3/4

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Question 159100: Determine the value of "a" so that the line through (5,8) and (a,6) has a slope of -3/4
Found 3 solutions by Fombitz, KnightOwlTutor, Electrified_Levi:
Answer by Fombitz(32388) About Me  (Show Source):
You can put this solution on YOUR website!
The formula for slope is,
m=%28y%5B2%5D-y%5B1%5D%29%2F%28x%5B2%5D-x%5B1%5D%29
Let's substitute,
-3%2F4=%286-8%29%2F%28a-5%29
Cross multiplying,
-3%28a-5%29=4%28-2%29
a-5=8%2F3
a=15%2F3%2B8%2F3
a=23%2F3

Answer by KnightOwlTutor(293) About Me  (Show Source):
You can put this solution on YOUR website!
To determine the slope of the line M= y2-y1/x2-x1
(6-8)/(a-5)=-3/4
Cross multiply
4(-2)=-3a + 15
-8=-3a + 15
add 8 to both sides
0=-3a + 23
Add 3a to both sides
3a=23
divide both sides by 3
a=23/3
Plug in to check answer
I found the common denominator for the y values as 3
5X3=15
(6-8)/(23-15/3)=-2/8/3=-3/4
-2*inverse od 8/3 =-2*(3/8) simplfy the equation.

Answer by Electrified_Levi(103) About Me  (Show Source):
You can put this solution on YOUR website!
Hi, Hope I can help,
.
Determine the value of "a" so that the line through (5,8) and (a,6) has a slope of +-3%2F4+
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First we have to know what the slope is. The slope is how steep the line is. It is the slant of the line
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These lines have negative slopes
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+graph+%28600%2C600%2C-10%2C10%2C-10%2C10%2C-x%2C-3x%2B2%2C-2x-4+%29+
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As you can see, a slope that is negative means, the line (from left to right) is going down
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Here are some lines with positive slopes
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+graph+%28600%2C600%2C-10%2C10%2C-10%2C10%2C2x%2Cx-6%2C5x%2B1+%29+
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As you can see a slope that is positive, means the line(from left to right) is going up
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Now that you know a little about slopes lets do the problem
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Determine the value of "a" so that the line through (5,8) and (a,6) has a slope of +-3%2F4+
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The slope is negative, so the line is going down(from left to right)
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Here is one way to solve this kind of problem
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If the point is (2,4) find a point (6,c) if the slope is +-7%2F4+
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The slope is negative, so the line is going down.
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The slope is +rise%2Frun+, or +%28up-or-down%29%2F%28left-or-right%29+
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Since the slope is negative, +-7%2F4+,
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A slope of +-7%2F4+ means you go down "7" and over to the right "4" times
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If we do that, we will get our point
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The point is (6,-3)
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There is yet another way to solve this kind of problem
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Determine the value of "a" so that the line through (5,8) and (a,6) has a slope of +-3%2F4+
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We use the slope equation = +%28y2-y1%29%2F%28x2-x1%29+
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(ex. slope of (1,2)(x1,y1) and (2,4)(x2,y2), equation = +%28y2-y1%29%2F%28x2-x1%29+
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Replace the variables
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+%28y2-y1%29%2F%28x2-x1%29+ = +%284-2%29%2F%282-1%29+ = +2%2F1+, these two lines have slope of "2"
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we can do the same for our problem
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Determine the value of "a" so that the line through (5,8)(x1,y1) and (a,6)(x2,y2) has a slope of +-3%2F4+
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Replace the variables in the equation = +%28y2-y1%29%2F%28x2-x1%29+ = +%286-8%29%2F%28a-5%29+ = +%28-2%29%2F%28a-5%29+, we already know the slope, this equation we have = +-3%2F4+
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Our equation = +%28-2%29%2F%28a-5%29+=+-3%2F4+, now just solve for "a"
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+%28-2%29%2F%28a-5%29+=+-3%2F4+
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We will use cross multiplication
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+highlight%28-2%29%2F%28a-5%29+=+-3%2Fhighlight%284%29+ = +%28-2%29%2Fhighlight%28a-5%29+=+highlight%28-3%29%2F4+ = +%28-8%29=+%28a-5%29%28-3%29+ = +%28-8%29=+%28-3%29%28a-5%29+
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Using distribution
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+%28-8%29=+%28-3%29%28a-5%29+ = +%28-8%29=+highlight%28-3%29%28highlight%28a%29-5%29+ = +%28-8%29=+highlight%28-3%29%28a-highlight%285%29%29+ = +%28-8%29=+%28-3a%29+%2B+15+ ( since the "5" is negative, it will make a positive "15" since the "3" is negative too)
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We will move "15" to the left side
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+%28-8%29=+%28-3a%29+%2B+15+ = +%28-8%29-15=+%28-3a%29+%2B+15-15+ = +%28-23%29=+%28-3a%29+
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We will multiply each side by (-1)
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+%28-23%29=+%28-3a%29+ = +%28-1%29%28-23%29=+%28-3a%29%28-1%29+ = +23+=+3a+ = +3a+=+23+, divide each side by "3" to get our "a"
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+3a+=+23+ = +3a%2F3+=+23%2F3+ = +a+=+23%2F3+
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We can check by replacing "a" with +23%2F3+ in our equation
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+%28-2%29%2F%28a-5%29+=+-3%2F4+ = +%28-2%29%2F%28%2823%2F3%29-5%29+=+-3%2F4+ = +%28-2%29%2F%28%2823%2F3%29-%2815%2F3%29%29+=+-3%2F4+ = +%28-2%29%2F%288%2F3%29+=+-3%2F4+ = +%28-2%2F1%29%283%2F8%29+=+-3%2F4+ = +%28-6%2F8%29+=+-3%2F4+ = +%28-3%2F4%29+=+%28-3%2F4%29+ (True)
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a = +23%2F3+
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We found our point, if our point was (a,6), just replace "a" with +23%2F3+, our point is (+23%2F3+,6)
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Here are the two points

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Now draw a line through these points, this line has a slope of +-3%2F4+
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The line equation = +y+=+%28-3%2F4%29x+%2B+47%2F4+ (slope -intercept form), or +3x+%2B+4y+=+47+ (standard form)
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The point you were looking for is (+23%2F3+,6)
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Your answer is (+23%2F3+,6)
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Hope I helped, Levi