How Do You Find the Slope of a Line If You Have a Parallel Line?

How Do You Find the Slope of a Line If You Have a Parallel Line?

Note:

Looking at a graph of parallel lines? Got the equation of one of the lines? Want to find the slope of the other line? No problem! Just remember that parallel lines have the same slope! Use the given equation to find the slope of the first line and since the lines are parallel, that's the slope of the second line! To see an example, check out this tutorial.

Keywords:

  • graph
  • problem
  • parallel
  • line
  • linear
  • linear equations
  • slope-intercept form
  • y=mx+b
  • slope
  • find slope

Background Tutorials

  • Use similar triangles to explain why the slope m is the same between any two distinct points on a non-vertical line in the coordinate plane; derive the equation y = mx for a line through the origin and the equation y = mx + b for a line intercepting the vertical axis at b.

      • What Does the Slope of a Line Mean?What Does the Slope of a Line Mean?

      What Does the Slope of a Line Mean?

      You can't learn about linear equations without learning about slope. The slope of a line is the steepness of the line. There are many ways to think about slope. Slope is the rise over the run, the change in 'y' over the change in 'x', or the gradient of a line. Check out this tutorial to learn about slope!

      • What's Slope-Intercept Form of a Linear Equation?What's Slope-Intercept Form of a Linear Equation?

      What's Slope-Intercept Form of a Linear Equation?

      When you're learning about linear equations, you're bound to run into the point-slope form of a line. This form is quite useful in creating an equation of a line if you're given the slope and a point on the line. Watch this tutorial, and learn about the point-slope form of a line!

  • Prove the slope criteria for parallel and perpendicular lines and use them to solve geometric problems (e.g., find the equation of a line parallel or perpendicular to a given line that passes through a given point).

      • How Do You Know if Two Lines are Parallel?How Do You Know if Two Lines are Parallel?

      How Do You Know if Two Lines are Parallel?

      Parallel lines are lines that will go on and on forever without ever intersecting. This is because they have the same slope! If you have two linear equations that have the same slope but different y-intercepts, then those lines are parallel to one another!

Further Exploration

  • Prove the slope criteria for parallel and perpendicular lines and use them to solve geometric problems (e.g., find the equation of a line parallel or perpendicular to a given line that passes through a given point).