What is the slope of the line that is perpendicular to y = 2/5x + 4

• m⊥ =2/5
• m⊥ = 5/2
• m⊥ = -2/5
• m⊥ = -5/2

1 answer

To find the slope of a line that is perpendicular to a given line, you need to take the negative reciprocal of the slope of the original line.

The given line is in slope-intercept form \(y = mx + b\), where \(m\) is the slope. For the line \(y = \frac{2}{5}x + 4\), the slope \(m\) is \(\frac{2}{5}\).

To find the slope of the line that is perpendicular to it, we take the negative reciprocal of \(\frac{2}{5}\):

\[ m_{\perp} = -\frac{1}{\left(\frac{2}{5}\right)} = -\frac{5}{2} \]

Therefore, the slope of the line that is perpendicular to the original line is \(-\frac{5}{2}\).

So the answer is: • \(m_{\perp} = -\frac{5}{2}\)