Feb 22 2010

How can you determine if two lines are parallel by their equation?

Category: KTVLair.ComGuest @ 12:35 pm

(2x + y) = -5 and (4x + 2y) = 1

how do you figure out if they are parallel or perpendicular?

3 Responses to “How can you determine if two lines are parallel by their equation?”

  1. Jackie says:

    Find the slope for each equation. If they are parallel, then they will have the same slope. If they are perpendicular, their slopes will be negative reciprocals (ex. if the slope is 5, the opposite reciprocal is -1/5)

  2. 23jordan says:

    find their slope. equal slope means the lines are parallel. If the numerator and denominator are switched, the lines are perpendicular.

  3. Hah says:

    when you solve for y.. you should get y=-2x – 5 and y= -2x + 1/2

    you have a -2x on both sides, so they are both going to be slanting the same way (negative) if you were to graph it.
    which I did, and they were parallel on the graph.

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