Algebra Examples

$2 x + 3 y = 9$

Rewrite in slope-intercept form.

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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 $2 x$ from both sides of the equation.

$3 y = 9 - 2 x$

Divide each term in $3 y = 9 - 2 x$ by $3$ and simplify.

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Divide each term in $3 y = 9 - 2 x$ by $3$ .

$\frac{3 y}{3} = \frac{9}{3} + \frac{- 2 x}{3}$

Simplify the left side.

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Cancel the common factor of $3$ .

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Cancel the common factor.

$\frac{3 y}{3} = \frac{9}{3} + \frac{- 2 x}{3}$

Divide $y$ by $1$ .

$y = \frac{9}{3} + \frac{- 2 x}{3}$

Simplify the right side.

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Simplify each term.

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Divide $9$ by $3$ .

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

Move the negative in front of the fraction.

$y = 3 - \frac{2 x}{3}$

Write in $y = m x + b$ form.

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Reorder $3$ and $- \frac{2 x}{3}$ .

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

Reorder terms.

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

Remove parentheses.

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

Using the slope-intercept form, the slope is $- \frac{2}{3}$ .

$m = - \frac{2}{3}$

The equation of a perpendicular line to $y = - \frac{2}{3} x + 3$ must have a slope that is the negative reciprocal of the original slope.

$m_{perpendicular} = - \frac{1}{- \frac{2}{3}}$

Simplify the result.

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Cancel the common factor of $1$ and $- 1$ .

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Rewrite $1$ as $- 1 (- 1)$ .

$m_{perpendicular} = - \frac{- 1 \cdot - 1}{- \frac{2}{3}}$

Move the negative in front of the fraction.

$m_{perpendicular} = \frac{1}{\frac{2}{3}}$

Multiply the numerator by the reciprocal of the denominator.

$m_{perpendicular} = 1 (\frac{3}{2})$

Multiply $\frac{3}{2}$ by $1$ .

$m_{perpendicular} = \frac{3}{2}$

Multiply $- - \frac{3}{2}$ .

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Multiply $- 1$ by $- 1$ .

$m_{perpendicular} = 1 (\frac{3}{2})$

Multiply $\frac{3}{2}$ by $1$ .

$m_{perpendicular} = \frac{3}{2}$