Scribd
Upload
209 views2 pages

Perpendicular Bisector Notes

This document discusses perpendicular bisectors and provides steps to find the equation of a perpendicular bisector. A perpendicular bisector is a line that cuts through the midpoint of a line segment at a 90 degree angle. The steps are to find the gradient of the line, calculate the perpendicular gradient, find the midpoint, and substitute into the equation for a line to find the perpendicular bisector. Two examples are provided, finding the equations of perpendicular bisectors through two pairs of points.

Uploaded by

Ollie Fry
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
209 views2 pages

Perpendicular Bisector Notes

This document discusses perpendicular bisectors and provides steps to find the equation of a perpendicular bisector. A perpendicular bisector is a line that cuts through the midpoint of a line segment at a 90 degree angle. The steps are to find the gradient of the line, calculate the perpendicular gradient, find the midpoint, and substitute into the equation for a line to find the perpendicular bisector. Two examples are provided, finding the equations of perpendicular bisectors through two pairs of points.

Uploaded by

Ollie Fry
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 2

Perpendicular Bisectors

A perpendicular bisector of a line is another line that cuts through the midpoint
of a line at right-angles.

C
B

A B
C A D

In both cases, CD is the perpendicular bisector of AB.

Steps to finding a perpendicular bisector:

1. Find the gradient of the line joining the given points.


2. Find the perpendicular gradient (flip and make negative).
3. Find the coordinates of the midpoint.
ALWAYS START
4. Substitute into y – b = m(x – a).
WITH A SKETCH!
Examples

1. T is the point (2, 7) and R is the point (-4, 3).


Find the equation of the perpendicular bisector of TR.

T(2, 7) y2 − y1  x + x2 y1 + y2 
mRT = Midpoint =  1 , 
x2 − x1  2 2 
3−7  2 + ( −4) 7 + 3 
mRT = =  , 
−4 − 2  2 2 
−4  −2 10 
R(-4, 3) mRT = =  , 
−6  2 2
2
Equation of ⊥ bisector: mRT = = ( −1, 5 )
3
y − b = m(x − a)
3 3
y − 5 = − (x − ( −1))  m⊥ = − , since m1  m2 = − 1
2 2
2y − 10 = − 3x − 3
2y = − 3x + 7
2. Find the equation of the perpendicular bisector through QS of the
triangle with vertices Q(-3, 1), R(-4, -2) & S(7, 0).

y2 − y1
Q(-3, 1) mQS =
x2 − x1
0 −1
S(7, 0) mQS =
7 − ( −3)
1
mQS = −
10
R(-4, -2)
 m⊥ = 10, since m1  m2 = − 1

 x + x2 y1 + y2 
MidpointQS =  1 ,  Equation of ⊥ bisector:
 2 2 
y − b = m(x − a)
 −3 + 7 1 + 0 
=  ,  1
 2 2  y− = 10(x − 2)
2
4 1
=  ,  2y − 1 = 20(x − 2)
2 2
2y = 20x − 40 + 1
 1
=  2,  2y = 20x − 39
 2

MATZDL-18-UPDATE-20 1

You might also like