Parallel and

Perpendicular Lines
Angle Between
Two Lines

Straight Lines
Definition 1.6

The angle of inclination of a line or simply an inclination is

the smallest angle, greater than or equal to 00, that the line makes
with positive direction of the x-axis.

If a line is inclined upward to the right, then the inclination 1 is

between 00 to 900, that is 00 < 1 < 900.
If the line is inclined upward to the left, then 900 < 2 < 1800.
The inclination of a horizontal line is 00, that is, 3 = 00. The
inclination of a vertical line is 900.
 L2

L1

2
1

(a) (b)

L4
L4

L3

90
9000

(c) (d)

Figure 10
Example 5:
1. Draw the line passing through (-2, 4) with  = 1200.

1200

1200
 2. What is the inclination  if tan  = -1?
The trigonometric function tangent is negative on
quadrant two and four. So, either  = 1350 or  = 3150.
However inclination should be the smallest angle that the
line makes with the positive x-axis. Thus,  must be 1350 .

1350
 L

y

x


Figure 11

Figure 11 shows that the ratio of the differences

between the y-coordinates and x-coordinates is actually
the steepness of the line. So, the quotient y/x is the
tangent of the inclination . Thus, the slope is equal to
tangent .
Definition 1.7
The slope of a line, denoted by m, is the tangent of the
inclination. That is m = tan .

In Figure 9, observe that tangent of 1 is positive and

tangent of 2 is negative. So, the slopes of lines L1 and L2 are
positive and negative respectively; while the slopes of a
horizontal line is 0 and the slope of a vertical line is
undefined since tan 900 is undefined.
Theorem 2.1
The slope of a line passing through two points P1(x1, y1)
y 2  y1
and P2(x2, y2) is m = .
x 2  x1
 .

Example 6:
1. What is the slope of the line whose inclination is 600?
Solution:
The slope of this line is tangent of 600. So, m = 3

2. Find the slope of the line that passes through (-2, 4) and (3, -6).

 (-2, 4)

 (3, -6)
 Slopes of Parallel and Perpendicular Lines

Theorem 1.2
Two nonvertical lines are parallel if and only if their
slopes are equal. That is, lines L1 and L2 are parallel if and
only if m1 = m2.

Theorem .3
Two slant lines are perpendicular if and only if the
product of their slopes is -1. That is, lines L1 and L2 are
perpendicular if and only if m1 m2 = -1
 L1
L2

2 1 1 2

L1

L2

(a) (b)

Figure 12

In figure 12 (a), 1 = 2. So tan 1 = tan 2. Thus, m1 = m2.

 In figure 12 (b) , let m1 = tan 1 and m2 = tan 2 be slopes
of L1 and L2 respectively. It can be shown that 2 = 900 + 1. So,
tan 2 = tan (900 + 1). Since tan 900 does not exist, take

sin(900  1) sin 900 cos 1  cos 900 sin 1

tan 2 = =
0
cos(90  1) cos 900 cos 1  sin 900 sin 1
cos 1 1
= =  .
 sin 1 tan 1
Example 8:
Prove that the points A(-2, 7), B(5, 4), C(-1, -10) and
D(-8, -7) are vertices of the rectangle ABCD.
A

C
 We must show that the adjacent sides are perpendicular.
That is, mABmBC = -1 and mADmDC = -1. We compute
the following:

47 3 .  7  10 3
m AB    mDC  
52 7 8 1 7

77 7 and  10  4 7
mAD   mBC  
8 2 3 1 5 3

Thus, the result follows.

Also, it can be shown that opposite sides are parallel.
However, that is enough to show that the figure is already a
rectangle (it may be any parallelogram). It must be shown
that any of the two adjacent sides are perpendicular.
 ,

2. Draw the triangle with the vertices A(-1, 1), B(6, -2)
.
and C(4, 3) and show that the triangle is a right triangle.

Finding the slopes of the sides yield the following:

 2 1 3 3 2 5 3 1 2
mAB   m BC    m AC  
6 1 7 46 2 4 1 5

Since the slopes of the sides BC and AC are negative

reciprocal to each other, these sides must be perpendicular.
and
Hence the triangle must be a right triangle.
Angle Between Two Lines:

Let  be an angle between two intersecting lines L1 and

L2. Suppose 1 and 2 are the inclinations of L1 and L2
respectively. Refer to Figure 13.
L2

L1

1 2

Figure 13
 It can be checked that  + 1 = 2. So,  = 2 - 1 and tan  = tan (2
- 1). Thus,
tan
2tan 
tan  = . 1
1tan
2tan
1

But tan 1 is the slope of L1 and tan 2 is the slope of L2. Hence,
m 2 m
tan  = , 1
1m 2m 1

where  is obtained by taking the inverse tangent of both sides.

It must be noted that m1 is the slope of the initial line and m2 is the
slope of the terminal side.
 Definition 1.8
If m1 and m2 are the slopes of lines L1 and L2
respectively, then the angle  from L1 to L2 is obtained
from the equation
m 2 m 1
tan  = 1m . 1
2m

Example 9:
1.The slope of one line is 3/2. Find the slope of the other line if
the angle between the two lines is 1350.

Solution: 3
 m 1
From Definition 1.8, either tan 1350 = 2
3
3 1  m 1
m 1  2
2
or tan 1350 = 3 .
1  m 1
2
L1
L2 L2

L1

1350
1350
 2. Find all the angles of a triangle whose vertices are at
(-4, 2), (3, 3), and (2, -3).

L2 (3, 3)

(-4, 2)

L1

L3

(2, -3)

The slopes of L1, L2, and L3 are m1 = 6, m2 = 1/7 and m3 = -5/6

respectively.
 Let 1 be the angle from L2 to L1, 2 be the angle from L 1 to L3,
and 3 be the angle from L3 to L2.

1
6
7 41
By Definition 1.8, tan 1 =  and
1 13
1    6 
7
5
 6
6 41
tan 2 =  . Also, 3 = 1800 – (1 + 2).
 5 24
1     6 
 6
 41 
Thus, 1 = tan-1   = 72.40 ,
 13 
-1  41 
2 = tan   = 59.70, and 3 = 1800 – (72.40 + 59.70) = 49.90.
 24 
Example: Page 19

A television camera is located along the 40-yd

line at a football game. If the camera is 20
yds back from the sideline, through what
angle should it be able to pan in order to
cover the entire field of play, including the
end zones, which are 10 yds deep?
 Area of a Triangle Given the Vertices

Let A(x1, y1), B(x2, y2), and C(x3, y3) be the vertices of a
triangle. Figure below shows that the area of the triangle
ABC is equal to the sum of the areas of the trapezoids
ADEC and CEFB minus the area of the trapezoid ADFB.
The area of a trapezoid is one-half the sum of the parallel
sides times the altitude. So,
C

D E F
AADEC =
1
2
 1

AD  CE DE =  y1  y 3 (x 3  x1 ) ,
2
ACEFB =
1
2
 1

CE  BF EF =  y 3  y 2 (x 2  x3 ) ,
2

AADFB =
1
2
 1

AD  BF DF =  y1  y 2 (x 2  x1 ) ,
2

Thus,
1
AABC =  y1  y3  (x3  x1 ) + 1  y3  y2  (x2  x3 )
2 2
1
-  y1  y2  (x1  x2 )
2
 which is also equal to the determinant

x1 y1 1
1
AABC = x2 y2 1 .
2
x3 y3 1

Equivalently, we can write

1 x1 x2 x3 x1
AABC = where the points
2 y1 y2 y3 y1
are chosen in a counterclockwise order.
 Example:
Find the area of the triangle with vertices (2, 2), (-4, -1), and
(6, -5).

(2, 2)

(-4, -1)

(6, -5)

Solution:
2 2 1
1 1
A=  4  1 1 =   2  12  20  6  8  10
2 2
6 5 1
A = 27 square units.
Assignment: (p22 fuller)

54. A television camera is 30 ft from the sideline of a

basketball court 94 ft long. The camera is located 7 ft from
the midcourt. Through what angle must it sweep in order to
cover all action on the court?
55. A bridge is trussed as shown below. Find the slopes and
inclinations of the sections AB and BC.
The Straight Lines
 The Straight Lines
Theorem 2.1 The equation of every straight line is
expressible in terms of the first degree. Conversely, the
graph of a first-degree equation is a straight line.
Equations of Lines

Vertical Lines and Horizontal Lines

x=a

y=b 
b

a
Standard Forms of the Equation of a Line
1. Slope-Intercept Form
Let m be the slope and b be the y-intercept of the line.
Using slope given two
points (0, b) and (x, y), we
get y b
m= .

(x, y) x0
Thus, mx = y – b.
 (0, b) So, y = mx + b.
This the slope-intercept
form of a line.
 Example:
Find the equation of the line with slope -1/2 and y-
intercept 4.

Solution:
Let m = -1/2 and b = 4. Substitute to the y = mx + b,
1
we get y   x  4.
2
Simplifying, x + 2y – 8 = 0 is the equation of the line.

 b=4

x + 2y – 8 = 0
2. What are the slope and y-intercept of the line whose
equation is 5x – 3y = -9.
Solution:
Transform the given equation to slope-intercept form,
we have
5 5
3y = 5x + 9 and so, y = x  3 . Thus, the slope m =
3 3
and the y-int is b = 3.

5x – 3y = -9

5
m=
3

 b=3
 2. Point-Slope Form

Let P(x1, y1) be a point on the line and let m be the slope of the line.

The slope of the line is

y  y1
m= .
x  x1
 Simplifying,
(x, y)
y – y1 = m(x – x1).
 P (x1, y1)
This is the Point-Slope Form of a line.
Example:
What is the equation of the line that passes through the
points (-1, 4) and (3, -6)?

The slope of the line is

(-1, 4) 46 5
m=  .
1 3 2
Take the point (-1, 4), we get
5
y4   (x  1) which is
2
5x + 2y – 3 = 0.

 (3, -6)
3. Intercept Form

Let a and b be the x and y intercept of the line respectively.

The slope of the line is

b0 b
m=  .
0a a
 (0, b) Using point-intercept form,
b
y b   x,
a
ay – ab = -bx,
bx + ay = ab.
Divide both sides by ab,
(a, 0)
 x y
  1.
a b
This is the Intercept Form of a line.
Directed Distance of a Line to a Point
 Theorem 2.3: The directed distance from the slant
line Ax+By+C=0 to the point P1(x1,y1) is given by
the formula
Ax1  By1  C
d
 A2  B 2
Where the denominator is given the sign of B. The
distance is positive if the point P is above the line,
and negative if P is below the line.
Example1:
 Find the distance from the line 5x=12y+26 to
the points P1(3,-5), P2(-4,1) and P3(9,0).
Example2:
 Find the distance between the parallel lines
15x+8y+68=0 and 15x+8y-51=0.
Example3:
 Find the equation of the bisector of the pair of
acute angles formed by the line x-2y+1=0 and
x+3y-3=0.
CIRCLES
 Definition 3.1
A circle is a set of all points in a plane equidistant from a fixed point
called the center. The constant equal distance is called the radius.

Circle with Center at the Origin:

If the center of the circle is at the origin and

if the point (x, y) is any point on the circle, then by
distance formula, r
 (x, y)

(x  0)2  (y  0)2  r , which is

x2  y2  r2

This is the equation of the circle with

center at the origin. If the radius is 1, it is
called a unit circle.
Circle with Center at C(h, k)
Let the point (h, k) be the center of a circle and let r be its
radius. By distance formula,
(x – h)2 + (y – k)2 = r2.
This is the center-radius form of an equation of a circle. This
is also called the standard form of the equation.

 P(x, y)
r
 C(h, k)
Example:1. Find an equation of the circle where the endpoints of the diameter
are at (-2, 4) and (5, 2).
So lu tio n :
So lvin g fo r the d ista n c e b e tw e e n th e tw o p o in ts w ill g ive
d = (2  5)2  (4  2)2  53 , w h ic h is th e d ia m e te r o f th e c irc le .
53
So , th e ra d iu s is r = . To fin d th e c e n te r o f th e c irc le , w e n e e d to g e t th e
2
m id p o in t o f th e d ia m e te r. Th u s, th e c e n te r is a t (3/ 2, 3). If fo llo w s t ha t th e e q ua tio n is
(x – 3/ 2) 2 + (y – 3)2 = 53/ 4.

Simplifying,
x2 + y2 – 3x – 6y – 2 = 0
(-2, 4)
(3/2, 3)

(5, 2)
2. Find an equation of the circle with center at (-3,-4) and tangent to the y-
Solution:
axis.
Since the center is already given, we must be able to find the
radius.
Note that the circle is tangent to the y-axis. It means that the
center is 3 units from the left of the y-axis. Thus, the radius is 3.
Hence, the equation is
(x + 3)2 + (y + 4)2 = 9.
Simplifying, x2 + y2 + 6x + 8y + 16 = 0

(-3, -4)
3. Find anSo
equation
lu tio n :
of the circle with center at (4, -1) and tangent to the line x
– 2y =Th2.e ra d iu s o f th e c irc le is th e d ista n c e o f th e lin e x – 2y = 2 fro m
th e p o in t (4, -1). It fo llo w s th a t
1(4)  2(1)  2 4 4
d =  a n d so r = .
 12  (2)2 5 5
Th e e q ua tio n o f th e c irc le is (x - 4) 2 + (y + 1) 2 = 16/ 5
which is also x2 + y2 – 8x + 2y + 69/5 = 0.

(4, 1)
General Form of an Equation of a Circle
x2 + y2 + dx + ey + f = 0 where d, e, and f are constants.

Example:

Reduce the equation to center-radius form and draw the circle.

4x2 + 4y2 + 24x – 4y + 1 = 0
First, d ivid e b o th sid e s b y 4. We g e t,
1
x 2 + y 2. + 6x - y   0.
4
Tra n sp o se th e c o n sta nt to th e rig h t sid e a n d b y c o m p le tin g th e sq ua re s,
1 1 1
x 2 + 6x  9 + y 2 - y  - 9
4 4 4

Th is is e q u a l to
2
 1
 x  3 2
 y -   9 w h e re th e c e n te r is
 2
 1
a t   3,  a n d ra d iu s is 3.
 2
(-3, ½)
3. Find an equation of the circle passing through the points (-1,2), (1,1)
and (3,2).