A few days ago
Anonymous

can someone help me with this question about lines?

I wanted to know is it possible for two lines that have positive slopes for example m=4 and m=6, to be perpendicular to each other?I think does it have to intersect but I’m not sure. It’s a true or false question.

Top 3 Answers
A few days ago
Anonymous

Favorite Answer

No, it’s not possible. The slopes of two perpendicular lines will always be the negative reciprocals of each other (with one exception). That means that, if the slope of one line is m, the slope of a line perpendicular to it will be -1/m. So if one line has a positive slope, the other will have a negative slope. If you picture two perpendicular lines on a Cartesian grid, you’ll see why this is.

The one exception is a horizontal line. The line perpendicular to it is a vertical line. The slope of a horizontal line is 0. It would, therefore, be impossible to form the negative reciprocal of the slope, because 0 has no reciprocal. It’s not too surprising, then, that a vertical line has no slope.

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A few days ago
sellerofdreams
No, it’s not possible for two lines with positive slope to be perpendicular. If you multiply the slopes of two perpendicular lines, the answer will be -1. Therefore, one has to be negative and the other has to be positive.
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A few days ago
Anonymous
they can’t. perpendicular lines must have opposite reciprocals. ex: slope perpendicular to m= 3/5

is

m= -5/3

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