What is the slope of the existing line? How can you use it to determine the slope of the new pipe?
y=-3/4x+3/2
Practice makes perfect
To write the equation of the line which represents the new pipe, we need to know its slope. Since it is perpendicular to the old one, the slopes are negative reciprocals, which means their product is - 1. We will calculate the slope of the existing pipe by substituting two of its points, (- 3,- 1) and (0,3), into the Slope Formula.
The slope of the line which represents the old pipe is 43. We will use it to find m_2, the slope of the line which represents the new pipe.
4/3 * m_2=- 1 ⇔ m_2=- 3/4
The slope of the perpendicular line is - 34. Since this line passes through ( 2, 0), we can substitute these values into the point-slope form and find the equation of this line.
