Algebra 1 : Parallel Lines

Study concepts, example questions & explanations for Algebra 1

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Example Questions

Example Question #61 : Parallel Lines

Which of the following lines is parallel to ?

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

Two lines can only be parallel if they have identical slopes. In this case, the slope is , which is equal to . The only line that has the same slope is

 

so that is the correct answer. Take note that the  value does not matter when determining whether two lines are parallel, unless the values are the same, in which case the lines would be identical and not parallel.

Example Question #62 : Parallel Lines

Which answer choice represents a line that's parallel to the following linear equation?

Possible Answers:

none of these

Correct answer:

Explanation:

We are given

and we compare it to the general formula of a straight line

where  is the slope and is the y-intercept.  In our case, . Know that in order for another function to be parallel, it has to have the same slope.  Therefore, we pick an answer choice that has the slope of . It turns out that the answer choice is

Example Question #61 : Parallel Lines

Determine if the lines  and  are parallel.

Possible Answers:

The lines are not parallel.

The lines are parallel.

There is not enough information to determine the answer.

Correct answer:

The lines are not parallel.

Explanation:

Parallel lines need to have slopes that are equal.  For the line , the slope is 3, since this is the coefficient attached to the x-variable.  For the line , the slope is 4.  Because these slopes are not equal, the lines are not parallel.

Example Question #64 : Parallel Lines

Which of the following lines is parallel to  ?

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

For two lines to be parallel, they must have the same slope. So, we are looking for a line with a slope of . However, it's difficult to tell what the slopes of the answer choices are because they are not in slope-intercept form. Luckily, it's easy to convert them.

Take the answer choice . Subtracting  from both sides gives 

which can be simplified to 

This is our answer! To be safe, the other choices can be rewritten in slope-intercept form as well, upon which it becomes clear that none of them are parallel.

Example Question #62 : Parallel Lines

Which of these lines is parallel to 

Possible Answers:

None of the other answers

Correct answer:

Explanation:

Parallel lines have identical slopes. The slope of the given line is 8, so the slope of the parallel line must also be 8. The only other line with a slope of 8 is 

.

Example Question #66 : Parallel Lines

Find a line parallel to

 .

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

For lines to be parallel, they need to have the same slope. In the form  we know  is the slope of the function. Therefore,  has .

Now looking at the possible answer choices we see that, 

can be written in slope-intercept form by dividing both sides by two, which equals

.

We can see that this equation also has slope , the same as the given equation. Thus these two lines are parallel.

Example Question #67 : Parallel Lines

Determine if the lines are parallel perpendicular or neither.

and

Possible Answers:

The lines are perpendicular

The lines are neither parallel or perpendicular

Cannot be determined

The lines are parallel

Correct answer:

The lines are parallel

Explanation:

To find out if lines are parallel or perpendicular you must look at the slopes of both lines. If they have the same slope then they are parallel and go in the same direction. If they have opposite slopes, then they are perpendicular and go in opposite directions and will eventually cross eachother at a right angle.

We have the following equations:

and

They are written in slope-intercept form:

In this form,  is the slope. The slopes are both   in our equations; therefore, the lines are parallel.

Example Question #68 : Parallel Lines

Suppose  is an equation modeling the heart rate in beats per minute  for a test subject given the number of minutes spent exercising . Which of these equations represents a person whose heart rate increases at the same rate, but whose total beats per minute will always be less?

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

Parallel lines never cross nor do they diverge. They climb/descend at the same rate. What determines the "steepness" of a line? The slope does. In order for two lines to remain the same distance from each other (to be parallel) for their length , they must have the same rise-over-run (slope).

So for subject A whose HR increases at , the steepness of this person's heart rate's increase is the slope 1/5. Any other person whose heart rate increases by the same rate per minute (the slope) will have a HR that never exceeds or diverges (graphically, in the sense of the two lines) from the HR of subject A.

Subject B  is the only person who HR line increases with same slope and thus remains the same distance from that of Subject A .

Example Question #61 : Parallel Lines

Which set of equations represents parallel lines?

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

Parallel lines are lines that never intersect. This is a result of having the same slope, creating equal distance between points on the two lines.

The student would run through the sets of equations putting them into form to isolate , the variable representing the slope of the line.

The only set of equations with the same slope is

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Example Question #70 : Parallel Lines

Which of the following lines is parallel to a line with the equation:

 

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

For two lines to be parallel, they must have the same slope.

Lines can be written in the slope-intercept form:

In this equation,  equals the slope and  represents the y-intercept.

The slope of the given line is:

There is only one line with a slope of .

 

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