Find the equation of the line perpendicular to y=2x-1 that passes through (2,0)

The first step is to remember that the equation of every straight line can be expressed as:y=mx+cSo we need to find the values of m and c. We have a rule that tells us the gradient of perpendicular lines- the negative reciprocal rule! -So to find m, we find the negative reciprocal of 2. This gives us m=-0.5This is the stage at which lots of students get stuck. To find the value of c, we must first 'plug' our value of m back into the equation:y=-0.5x+cNow, we know that the point (2,0) is on the line, so we can write that:0=-0.5(2)+c0=-1+cSo adding 1 to both sides:c=1We are done! The answer is y=-0.5x+1

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Answered by Will R. Maths tutor

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