Step 1 Choose a point that the perpendicular line will pass through. Step 2 Rewrite the equation as . Add to both sides of the equation. Divide each term in by and simplify. Cancel the common factor of . Cancel the common factor. Step 3 Rewrite in slope-intercept form. The slope-intercept form is , where is the slope and is the y-intercept. Using the slope-intercept form, the slope is . Step 4 The equation of a perpendicular line must have a slope that is the negative reciprocal of the original slope. Step 5 Simplify to find the slope of the perpendicular line. Multiply the numerator by the reciprocal of the denominator. Step 6 Find the equation of the perpendicular line using the point-slope formula. Use the slope and a given point to substitute for and in the point-slope form , which is derived from the slope equation . Simplify the equation and keep it in point-slope form.
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