Is the slope of a perpendicular line the negative reciprocal?

Is the slope of a perpendicular line the negative reciprocal?

Correct answer: The slope of the perpendicular line is the negative reciprocal. This means you change the sign of the slope to its opposite: in this case to 3.

How do you find the negative reciprocal of a slope?

Perpendicular Slope Example For example, if the slope of a line is -5, then the slope of a line perpendicular to this line would be the negative reciprocal of -5. To find the negative reciprocal of -5 (or -5/1), we first find its reciprocal by flipping the numerator and denominator to get -1/5.

Can parallel lines have a negative slope?

Theorem 103: If two nonvertical lines are parallel, then they have the same slope. Theorem 104: If two lines have the same slope, then the lines are nonvertical parallel lines. If two lines are perpendicular and neither one is vertical, then one of the lines has a positive slope, and the other has a negative slope.

Do perpendicular lines have reciprocal slopes?

Explanation: Perpendicular lines have slopes that are negative reciprocals of one another. The given line’s slope is 5, which means that the slope of the other line must be its negative reciprocal.

What’s a negative reciprocal?

The negative reciprocal of a number is to take negative one, and divide by the value. Simply swap the numerator and denominator and add a negative sign. Recall that dividing by a fraction is the same as multiplying by the reciprocal.

Are parallel lines reciprocal?

Parallel lines have the same slope and will never intersect. Parallel lines continue, literally, forever without touching (assuming that these lines are on the same plane). On the other hand, the slope of perpendicular lines are the negative reciprocals of each other, and a pair of these lines intersects at 90 degrees.

How do you find a negative reciprocal?

The negative reciprocal of a number is to take negative one, and divide by the value. Simply swap the numerator and denominator and add a negative sign.

Why do perpendicular lines have negative reciprocal slopes?

Perpendicular lines form right angles. If two lines are perpendicular, the slopes are negative reciprocals. (The product of the slopes = -1.) since their slopes of 0 have undefined reciprocals.

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