Question

Watch help videoWhich equation represents a line which is perpendicular to the line 4x – y = –2?

Answer 1

$\begin{gathered} \text{The equation is;} \\ y\text{ = -}\frac{1}{4}x\text{ -3} \end{gathered}$

Here, we want to select an equation that is perpendicular to the given equation

We start by writing the given equation in the general form

The general form is;

$y\text{ = mx + b}$

where m is the slope and b represents the y-intercept

We can rewrite the given equation so that we have;

$y\text{ = 4x + 2}$

The slope here is 4; so the equation we are going to have as its perpendicular will be an equation in which its slope multiplied by the slope of the given equation will be -1

So we are looking for an equation with the slope as -1/4

From the options, the equation that fits this description is;

$y\text{ = -}\frac{1}{4}x\text{ -3}$