Finding a perpendicular line to a given line & through a given point

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Taught by Naomi1431
  • Currently 4.0/5 Stars.
10382 views | 1 rating
Part of video series
Meets NCTM Standards:
Lesson Summary:

In this lesson, Naomi teaches how to find a line that is perpendicular to another given line and passes through a given point. First, she shows how to find the slope of the line that's given, which is just the coefficient of x. Then, she explains how to find the slope of the perpendicular line, which is the negative reciprocal of the given line's slope. Finally, she substitutes the values of the slope and the given point into the point-slope formula to obtain the equation of the slope.

Lesson Description:

An example of how to find a line perpendicular to a given line and through a given point. This one involves some fractions in the calculations as well.

Questions answered by this video:
  • How do you write an equation of the line containing the point (-3, 4) and perpendicular to the line 8x + 7y = 5?
  • How do you find the equation of the line perpendicular to a given line that passes through a given point?
  • How do you find the slope of a line in standard form?
  • What is the slope of the line 8x + 7y = 5?
  • How do you change an equation from standard form into slope-intercept form?
  • If the slope of a line is -8/7, what is the slope of a perpendicular line?
  • What is the point-slope formula and how can you use it to write an equation?
  • Staff Review

    • Currently 4.0/5 Stars.
    This lesson does a great job of explaining how to find the equation of a line that passes through a point and is perpendicular to another line in standard form. This problem is very common and this explanation goes through every step slowly and clearly.