Whats the slope of a line perpendicular to x - y = 16?

1 Answer
Jul 22, 2015

All lines perpendicular to x-y = 16
have a slope of -1

Explanation:

x - y = 16 has a slope of 1
color(white)("XXXX")(this can be demonstrated by:
color(white)("XXXX")color(white)("XXXX")@ converting to slope-point form
color(white)("XXXX")color(white)("XXXX")or
color(white)("XXXX")color(white)("XXXX")@ using the slope = -b/a formula)

If a line has a slope of m
color(white)("XXXX")all lines perpendicular to it have a slope of (-1/m)

Therefore all lines perpendicular to x-y = 16
color(white)("XXXX")have a slope of (-1)