Simon wanted to find the equation of a line that passes through (–6, 5) and is perpendicular to the graph of 3x + 2y = –11. His work is shown below.
1. 3x + 2y = –11 written in slope-intercept form is y = x , so the slope is .
2. The slope of the perpendicular line is .
3. Substitute the point and the new slope into point-slope form to get y – 5 = (x – (–6)).
4. Simplifying, the line is y – 5 = (x + 6)