Math  /  Algebra

QuestionQuestion Show Examples
Find the slope of a line perpendicular to the line whose equation is 3x+y=83 x+y=8. Fully simplify your answer.
Answer Attempt 1 out of 2

Studdy Solution

STEP 1

What is this asking? We need to find the slope of a line that's perpendicular to another line, which is described by the equation 3x+y=83x + y = 8. Watch out! Don't mix up the slope of the *given* line with the slope of the *perpendicular* line!

STEP 2

1. Rewrite the equation
2. Find the slope
3. Perpendicular slope

STEP 3

Let's **rewrite** the equation 3x+y=83x + y = 8 into slope-intercept form, which is y=mx+by = mx + b.
This form is super useful because mm represents the **slope** and bb represents the **y-intercept**.

STEP 4

To get there, we want to **isolate** yy.
We can do this by subtracting 3x3x from both sides of the equation: 3x+y3x=83x3x + y - 3x = 8 - 3x y=3x+8y = -3x + 8

STEP 5

Now, our equation is in slope-intercept form!
Remember, the **slope** is the coefficient of xx.
In our equation, y=3x+8y = -3x + 8, the coefficient of xx is 3-3.

STEP 6

So, the slope of the *given* line is 3-3.
We'll call this m1=3m_1 = -3.

STEP 7

We want the slope of a line *perpendicular* to this one.
Perpendicular lines have slopes that are **negative reciprocals** of each other.
This means if we flip the fraction and change the sign, we get the perpendicular slope.

STEP 8

Let's call the slope of the perpendicular line m2m_2.
To find m2m_2, we take the negative reciprocal of m1m_1: m2=1m1m_2 = -\frac{1}{m_1} m2=13m_2 = -\frac{1}{-3}m2=13m_2 = \frac{1}{3}

STEP 9

The slope of the line perpendicular to 3x+y=83x + y = 8 is 13\frac{1}{3}.

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