Algebra Examples

What is an equation of the line that passes through the point

(- 1, - 6)

$(- 1, - 6)$ and is perpendicular to the line

$x + 6 y = 6$ ?

Step 1

Write the problem as a mathematical expression.

$(- 1, - 6)$ ,

$x + 6 y = 6$

Step 2

Solve

$x + 6 y = 6$ .

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Step 2.1

Subtract

$x$ from both sides of the equation.

$6 y = 6 - x$

Step 2.2

Divide each term in

$6 y = 6 - x$ by

$6$ and simplify.

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Step 2.2.1

Divide each term in

$6 y = 6 - x$ by

$6$ .

$\frac{6 y}{6} = \frac{6}{6} + \frac{- x}{6}$

Step 2.2.2

Simplify the left side.

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Step 2.2.2.1

Cancel the common factor of

$6$ .

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Step 2.2.2.1.1

Cancel the common factor.

$\frac{6 y}{6} = \frac{6}{6} + \frac{- x}{6}$

Step 2.2.2.1.2

Divide

$y$ by

$1$ .

$y = \frac{6}{6} + \frac{- x}{6}$

Step 2.2.3

Simplify the right side.

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Step 2.2.3.1

Simplify each term.

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Step 2.2.3.1.1

Divide

$6$ by

$6$ .

$y = 1 + \frac{- x}{6}$

Step 2.2.3.1.2

Move the negative in front of the fraction.

$y = 1 - \frac{x}{6}$

Step 3

Find the slope when

$y = 1 - \frac{x}{6}$ .

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Step 3.1

Rewrite in slope-intercept form.

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Step 3.1.1

The slope-intercept form is

$y = m x + b$ , where

$m$ is the slope and

$b$ is the y-intercept.

$y = m x + b$

Step 3.1.2

Reorder

$1$ and

$- \frac{x}{6}$ .

$y = - \frac{x}{6} + 1$

Step 3.1.3

Write in

$y = m x + b$ form.

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Step 3.1.3.1

Reorder terms.

$y = - (\frac{1}{6} x) + 1$

Step 3.1.3.2

Remove parentheses.

$y = - \frac{1}{6} x + 1$

Step 3.2

Using the slope-intercept form, the slope is

$- \frac{1}{6}$ .

$m = - \frac{1}{6}$

Step 4

The equation of a perpendicular line must have a slope that is the negative reciprocal of the original slope.

$m_{perpendicular} = - \frac{1}{- \frac{1}{6}}$

Step 5

Simplify

$- \frac{1}{- \frac{1}{6}}$ to find the slope of the perpendicular line.

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Step 5.1

Cancel the common factor of

$1$ and

$- 1$ .

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Step 5.1.1

Rewrite

$1$ as

$- 1 (- 1)$ .

$m_{perpendicular} = - \frac{- 1 \cdot - 1}{- \frac{1}{6}}$

Step 5.1.2

Move the negative in front of the fraction.

$m_{perpendicular} = \frac{1}{\frac{1}{6}}$

Step 5.2

Multiply the numerator by the reciprocal of the denominator.

$m_{perpendicular} = 1 \cdot 6$

Step 5.3

Multiply

$- - (1 \cdot 6)$ .

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Step 5.3.1

Multiply

$6$ by

$1$ .

$m_{perpendicular} = - (- 1 \cdot 6)$

Step 5.3.2

Multiply

$- 1$ by

$6$ .

$m_{perpendicular} = 6$

Step 5.3.3

Multiply

$- 1$ by

$- 6$ .

$m_{perpendicular} = 6$

Step 6

Find the equation of the perpendicular line using the point-slope formula.

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Step 6.1

Use the slope

$6$ and a given point

$(- 1, - 6)$ to substitute for

$x_{1}$ and

$y_{1}$ in the point-slope form

$y - y_{1} = m (x - x_{1})$ , which is derived from the slope equation

$m = \frac{y_{2} - y_{1}}{x_{2} - x_{1}}$ .

$y - (- 6) = 6 \cdot (x - (- 1))$

Step 6.2

Simplify the equation and keep it in point-slope form.

$y + 6 = 6 \cdot (x + 1)$

Step 7

Solve for

$y$ .

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Step 7.1

Simplify

$6 \cdot (x + 1)$ .

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Step 7.1.1

Rewrite.

$y + 6 = 0 + 0 + 6 \cdot (x + 1)$

Step 7.1.2

Simplify by adding zeros.

$y + 6 = 6 \cdot (x + 1)$

Step 7.1.3

Apply the distributive property.

$y + 6 = 6 x + 6 \cdot 1$

Step 7.1.4

Multiply

$6$ by

$1$ .

$y + 6 = 6 x + 6$

Step 7.2

Move all terms not containing

$y$ to the right side of the equation.

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Step 7.2.1

Subtract

$6$ from both sides of the equation.

$y = 6 x + 6 - 6$

Step 7.2.2

Combine the opposite terms in

$6 x + 6 - 6$ .

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Step 7.2.2.1

Subtract

$6$ from

$6$ .

$y = 6 x + 0$

Step 7.2.2.2

Add

$6 x$ and

$0$ .

$y = 6 x$

Step 8