Question
In the diagram overline (BD) is a diameter of circle A. If the slope of overleftrightarrow (BE) is (3)/(2) what is the slope of overleftrightarrow (BD) A. (3)/(2) B. -(3)/(2) C. (2)/(3) D. -(2)/(3)
Answer
4.5
(210 Votes)
Sable
Elite · Tutor for 8 years
Answer
To find the slope of line
, we need to use the fact that
is the diameter of the circle and
is also a diameter as given in the question. Since
and
are both diameters of the same circle and share the endpoint
, they must coincide and thus are the same line.Now, we know that
intersects the diameter
(which is the same as
) at point
. Since
has a slope of
, the line perpendicular to it (which would be the diameter
) will have a slope that is the negative reciprocal of
.The negative reciprocal of
is calculated by flipping the fraction and changing the sign, which gives us
.Therefore, the slope of
is
.The final answer is:D.