Intermediate Geometry : Perpendicular Lines

Study concepts, example questions & explanations for Intermediate Geometry

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Example Questions

Example Question #1 : How To Find The Slope Of A Perpendicular Line

What is the slope of a line perpendicular to ?

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

The equation  is a vertical line on the coordinate plane. Any line perpendicular to a vertical line is a horizontal line. Horizontal lines have slopes of zero.

The correct answer is .

Example Question #2 : How To Find The Slope Of A Perpendicular Line

Assume the points  and  form a line. A perpendicular line is drawn to intersect this line. What is the slope of the perpendicular line?

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

Write the slope formula and find the slope of the first line.

The slope of the perpendicular line is the negative reciprocal of the original slope.

Therefore, the slope of the perpendicular line is .

Example Question #2 : How To Find The Slope Of A Perpendicular Line

A line goes through the following  and .

Find the slope of a line perpendicular to the line given.

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

The slope of a line perpendicular is the negative reciprocal of the given line.

Since the given slope is calculated as , then the slope of the perpendicular line would be  .

Example Question #1 : How To Find Out If Lines Are Perpendicular

Which of the following lines is perpendicular to the line

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

The slope of the given line is 3. The slope of a perpendicular line is the negative inverse of the given line. In this case, that is equal to . Therefore, the correct answer is:

Example Question #1 : How To Find Out If Lines Are Perpendicular

Given the equation of a line:

 

Which equation given below is perpendicular to the given line?

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

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When looking at the equation of the given line, we know that the slope is  and the y-intercept is . Any line perpendicular to the given line will create a 90 degree angle with the given line.

 

Now, there are INFINITE lines perpendicular to the given line, all with different y-intercepts. So in other words, the line we are looking for will have no dependence on the y-intercept, as any y-intercept will do. What we do care about is the slope of the line.

 

The slope of any line perpendicular to a given line has a negative reciprocal of the slope. So for this problem:

 

The only line that has this slope is

Example Question #2 : How To Find Out If Lines Are Perpendicular

Given the equation of a line:

 

Find the equation of a line parallel to the given line.

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

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Parallel lines will never touch, and therefore they must have the same slope.

Many of the answers are reciprocals or negative slopes, but the slope we are looking for is .

That leaves us with 2 answers. However, one of the answers is the exact same equation for a line as the given equation. Therefore our answer is:

Example Question #3 : How To Find Out If Lines Are Perpendicular

Which of the following is perpendicular to 

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

Two lines are perpendicular if and only if their slopes are negative reciprocals. To find the slope, we must put the equation into slope-intercept form,  , where  equals the slope of the line. We begin by subtracting  from each side, giving us . Next, we subtract 32 from each side, giving us . Finally, we divide each side by , giving us . We can now see that the slope is . Therefore, any line perpendicular to  must have a slope of . Of the equations above, only  has a slope of .

Example Question #2 : How To Find Out If Lines Are Perpendicular

Which of the following equations is perpendicular to ?

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

Convert the given equation to slope-intercept form: 

Divide both sides of the equation by :

The slope of this function is :  

The slope of the perpendicular line will be the negative reciprocal of the original slope. Substitute and solve:

Only  has a slope of .

Example Question #1 : How To Find Out If Lines Are Perpendicular

Which line is perpendicular to the given line below? 

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

Two perpendicular lines have slopes that are opposite reciprocals, meaning that the sign changes and the reciprocal of the slope is taken. 

The original equation is in slope-intercept form,

 where  represents the slope.

In this case, the slope of the original is: 

After taking the opposite reciprocal, the result is the slope below: 

 

Example Question #1 : How To Find Out If Lines Are Perpendicular

Are the lines of the equations 

and

parallel, perpendicular, or neither? 

Possible Answers:

Parallel 

Neither

Perpendicular 

Correct answer:

Perpendicular 

Explanation:

Any equation of the form , such as , can be graphed by a vertical line; any equation of the form , such as , can be graphed  by a horizontal line. A vertical line and a horizontal line are perpendicular to each other.

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