The problem asks us to find the equation of a line that is perpendicular to the line $3x + 2y = 1$ and passes through the point $(-2, 1)$. We need to express the answer in slope-intercept form, which is $y = mx + b$, where $m$ is the slope and $b$ is the y-intercept.

AlgebraLinear EquationsSlope-Intercept FormPerpendicular LinesGeometry
2025/3/28

1. Problem Description

The problem asks us to find the equation of a line that is perpendicular to the line 3x+2y=13x + 2y = 1 and passes through the point (2,1)(-2, 1). We need to express the answer in slope-intercept form, which is y=mx+by = mx + b, where mm is the slope and bb is the y-intercept.

2. Solution Steps

First, we need to find the slope of the given line 3x+2y=13x + 2y = 1. To do this, we rewrite the equation in slope-intercept form:
2y=3x+12y = -3x + 1
y=32x+12y = -\frac{3}{2}x + \frac{1}{2}
The slope of the given line is m1=32m_1 = -\frac{3}{2}.
The slope of a line perpendicular to the given line is the negative reciprocal of the given line's slope. Therefore, the slope of the perpendicular line is:
m2=1m1=132=23m_2 = -\frac{1}{m_1} = -\frac{1}{-\frac{3}{2}} = \frac{2}{3}
Now we know the slope of the perpendicular line is 23\frac{2}{3}, and it passes through the point (2,1)(-2, 1). We can use the point-slope form of a line to find the equation:
yy1=m(xx1)y - y_1 = m(x - x_1)
y1=23(x(2))y - 1 = \frac{2}{3}(x - (-2))
y1=23(x+2)y - 1 = \frac{2}{3}(x + 2)
Now we convert this to slope-intercept form:
y1=23x+43y - 1 = \frac{2}{3}x + \frac{4}{3}
y=23x+43+1y = \frac{2}{3}x + \frac{4}{3} + 1
y=23x+43+33y = \frac{2}{3}x + \frac{4}{3} + \frac{3}{3}
y=23x+73y = \frac{2}{3}x + \frac{7}{3}

3. Final Answer

The equation of the line is y=23x+73y = \frac{2}{3}x + \frac{7}{3}.

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