Coordinate Geometry - GRE Quantitative Reasoning

We first need to recall the following relationships:

Lines with the same slope and same -intercept are really the same line.

Lines with the same slope and different -intercepts are parallel.

Lines with slopes that are negative reciprocals are perpendicular.

Then we identify the slopes of the two lines by comparing the equations to the slope-intercept form , where is the slope and is the -intercept. By inspection we see the lines have slopes of and . Since these are different, the "parallel" and "same line" choices are eliminated. To test if the slopes are negative reciprocals, we take one of the slopes, change its sign, and flip it upside-down. Starting with and changing the sign gives , then flipping gives . This is the same as the slope of the second line, so the two slopes are negative reciprocals and the lines are perpendicular.

If lines are perpendicular, then their slopes will be negative reciprocals.

First, we need to find the slope of the given line.

Because we know that our given line's slope is , the slope of the line perpendicular to it must be .

When determining if a two lines are perpindicular, we are only concerned about their slopes. Consider the basic equation of a line, , where m is the slope of the line. Two lines are perpindicular to each other if one slope is the negative and reciprocal of the other.

The first step of this problem is to get it into the form, , which is . Now we know that the slope, m, is . The reciprocal of that is , and the negative of that is . Therefore, any line that has a slope of will be perpindicular to the original line.

First rearrange the equation so that it is in slope-intercept form, resulting in y=2/3 x + 14/9. The slope of this line is 2/3, so the slope of the line perpendicular will have the opposite reciprocal as a slope, which is -3/2.

Perpendicular lines have slopes that are the opposite of the reciprocal of each other. In this case, the slope of the first line is -2. The reciprocal of -2 is -1/2, so the opposite of the reciprocal is therefore 1/2.

distance2 = (_x_2 – _x_1)2 + (_y_2 – _y_1)2

Looking at the two order pairs given, _x_1 = 1, _y_1 = 1, _x_2 = 7, _y_2 = 9.

distance2 = (7 – 1)2 + (9 – 1)2 = 62 + 82 = 100

distance = 10

To begin, the best thing to do is to put your equation into slope-intercept format. That is, into the format:

For your equation, you need to solve for :

, which is the same as

Then, divide both sides by :

So, the slope of this line is . The perpendicular of a line is opposite and reciprocal. Therefore, the perpendicular line will have a slope of . Of the options given, only matches this (which you can figure out when you solve for ).

Since the vertical coordinates of each point are given by y, solve each equation for y and plug in 6 for x, as follows:

Taking the difference of the resulting y -values give the vertical distance between the points (6,27) and (6,48), which is 21.

Since we have –2x and +2x in the equations, it makes sense to add the equations together to give 8y = 16 yielding y = 2. Then we substitute y = 2 into one of the original equations to get x = –2. So the solution to the system of equations is (–2, 2)

When the line crosses the x-axis, the y-coordinate is 0. Substitute 0 into the equation for y and solve for x.

.25(x – 20) + 12 = 0

.25_x_ – 5 = –12

.25_x_ = –7

x = –28

The answer is the point (–28,0).

First solve for the slope of the line, m using y=mx+b

m = (y2 – y1) / (x2 – x1)

= (15 – 14) / (_–_5 _–_3)

= (1 )/( _–_8)

=_–_1/8

y = –(1/8)x + b

Now, choose one of the coordinates and solve for b:

14 = –(1/8)3 + b

14 = _–_3/8 + b

b = 14 + (3/8)

b = 14.375

y = –(1/8)x + 14.375

If the square has a perimeter of 22, each side is 22/4 or 5.5. This means that the upper-right corner is (2.75, 2.75)—remember that each side will be "split in half" by the x and y axes.

Using the two points we have, we can ascertain our line's equation by using the point-slope formula. Let us first get our slope:

m = rise/run = (2.75 – 5)/(2.75 + 1) = –2.25/3.75 = –(9/4)/(15/4) = –9/15 = –3/5.

The point-slope form is: y – y0 = m(x – x0). Based on our data this is: y – 5 = (–3/5)(x + 1); Simplifying, we get: y = (–3/5)x – (3/5) + 5; y = (–3/5)x + 22/5

P1 (0, 6) and P2 (4, 0)

First, calculate the slope: m = rise ÷ run = (y2 – y1)/(x2 – x1), so m = –3/2

Second, plug the slope and one point into the slope-intercept formula:

y = mx + b, so 0 = –3/2(4) + b and b = 6

Thus, y = –3/2x + 6

If P1(1, 3) and P2(3, 6), then calculate the slope by m = rise/run = (y2 – y1)/(x2 – x1) = 3/2

Use the slope and one point to calculate the intercept using y = mx + b

Then convert the slope-intercept form into standard form.

If we rearrange the second equation it is the same as the first equation. They are the same line.

We should put this equation in the form of y = mx + b, where m is the slope.

We start with 4_x_ + 3_y_ = 7.

Isolate the y term: 3_y_ = 7 – 4_x_

Divide by 3: y = 7/3 – 4/3 * x

Rearrange terms: y = –4/3 * x + 7/3, so the slope is –4/3.

The equation of a line is:

y = mx + b, where m is the slope

4_x_ – 16_y_ = 24

–16_y_ = –4_x_ + 24

y = (–4_x_)/(–16) + 24/(–16)

y = (1/4)x – 1.5

Slope = 1/4

First write the equation in slope intercept form. Add to both sides to get . Now divide both sides by to get . The slope of this line is , so any line that also has a slope of would be parallel to it. The correct answer is .

To be totally clear, solve both lines in slope-intercept form:

2x – 4y = 33; –4y = 33 – 2x; y = –33/4 + 0.5x

2x + 4y = 33; 4y = 33 – 2x; y = 33/4 – 0.5x

These lines are definitely not the same. Nor are they parallel—their slopes differ. Likewise, they cannot be perpendicular (which would require not only opposite slope signs but also reciprocal slopes); therefore, they are non-perpendicular intersecting.