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Find an equation for the perpendicular bisector of the line segment whose endpoints are (-2,1) and (-6,5)

Sagot :

[tex]y\text{ = x + 7}[/tex]

Here, we want to find the equation of the perpendicular bisector of th line segment with the given endpoints

We start by calculating the slope of the line segment

Mathematically, we can have that as;

[tex]\begin{gathered} m\text{ = }\frac{y_2-y_1}{x_2-x_1} \\ \\ m\text{ = }\frac{5-1}{-6-(-2)}=\text{ }\frac{4}{-4}\text{ = -1} \end{gathered}[/tex]

So, we have the slope of the line as -1

Mathematically, the slopes of two lines which are perpendicular to each other have a product of -1

Thus;

[tex]\begin{gathered} m_2\text{ }\times\text{ (-1) = -1} \\ \\ m_2\text{ = 1} \end{gathered}[/tex]

Now, we need the midpoint segment coordinates as it is the point through which the perpendicular bisector will pass through

We can get these coordinates using the mid-point formula

That will be;

[tex]\begin{gathered} (x,y)\text{ = (}\frac{x_2+x_1}{2},\frac{y_2+y_1}{2}) \\ \\ (x,y)\text{ = (}\frac{-2-6}{2},\frac{1+5}{2}) \\ \\ (x,y)\text{ = (-4,3)} \end{gathered}[/tex]

So we use the point-slope formula to get the equation

That will be;

[tex]\begin{gathered} y-y_1=m(x-x_1) \\ y-3\text{ = 1(x+4)} \\ y-3\text{ = x + 4} \\ y\text{ = x + 4 + 3} \\ y\text{ = x + 7} \end{gathered}[/tex]