Find the Slope of a Perpendicular Line 6x-2y=-8

$6 x - 2 y = - 8$

Step 1

Rewrite in slope-intercept form.

The slope-intercept form is $y = m x + b$ , where $m$ is the slope and $b$ is the y-intercept.

$y = m x + b$

Subtract $6 x$ from both sides of the equation.

$- 2 y = - 8 - 6 x$

Divide each term in $- 2 y = - 8 - 6 x$ by $- 2$ and simplify.

Divide each term in $- 2 y = - 8 - 6 x$ by $- 2$ .

$\frac{- 2 y}{- 2} = \frac{- 8}{- 2} + \frac{- 6 x}{- 2}$

Simplify the left side.

Cancel the common factor of $- 2$ .

Cancel the common factor.

$\frac{- 2 y}{- 2} = \frac{- 8}{- 2} + \frac{- 6 x}{- 2}$

Divide $y$ by $1$ .

$y = \frac{- 8}{- 2} + \frac{- 6 x}{- 2}$

Simplify the right side.

Simplify each term.

Divide $- 8$ by $- 2$ .

$y = 4 + \frac{- 6 x}{- 2}$

Cancel the common factor of $- 6$ and $- 2$ .

Factor $- 2$ out of $- 6 x$ .

$y = 4 + \frac{- 2 (3 x)}{- 2}$

Cancel the common factors.

Factor $- 2$ out of $- 2$ .

$y = 4 + \frac{- 2 (3 x)}{- 2 (1)}$

Cancel the common factor.

$y = 4 + \frac{- 2 (3 x)}{- 2 \cdot 1}$

Rewrite the expression.

$y = 4 + \frac{3 x}{1}$

Divide $3 x$ by $1$ .

$y = 4 + 3 x$

Reorder $4$ and $3 x$ .

$y = 3 x + 4$

Step 2

Using the slope-intercept form, the slope is $3$ .

$m = 3$

Step 3

The equation of a perpendicular line to $y = 3 x + 4$ must have a slope that is the negative reciprocal of the original slope.

$m_{perpendicular} = - \frac{1}{3}$

Step 4