A line segment is bisected by a line with the equation - y + 4 x = 3 . If one end of the line segment is at ( 2 , 6 ), where is the other end?

1 Answer
Oct 6, 2016

Any point on the line color(green)(y=4x-4)

Explanation:

Consider the vertical line color(magenta)(x=2)
Clearly color(magenta)x=2 goes through the point color(red)(""(2,6))
and it intersects color(blue)(-y+4x=3) at color(blue)(""(2,5))

color(red)(""(2,6)) is vertically color(brown)(1) unit above color(blue)(""(2,5)), the intersection point with color(blue)(-y+4x=3)

color(green)(""(2,4)) is vertically color(brown)1 unit below color(blue)(""(2,5)), the intersection point with color(blue)(-y+4x=3)

Therefore color(blue)(-y+4x=3) bisects the line segment between color(green)(""(2,4)) and color(red)(""(2,6))

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Furthermore (as seen in the image below and considering similar triangles)
any point on a line parallel to color(blue)(-y+4x=3) through color(green)(""(2,4)) will provide, together with color(red)(""(2,6)) a line segment bisected by color(blue)(-y+4x=3)

enter image source here

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color(blue)(-y+4x=3) can be written in slope-intercept form as
color(white)("XXX")color(blue)(y=4x-3) with a y-intercept at color(blue)(""(-3))

If the line through color(green)(""(2,4)) parallel to color(blue)(-y+4x=3) is color(brown)(1) unit vertically below color(blue)(-y+4x=3)
it will have a y-intercept at color(green)(""(-4))
and therefore a slope-intercept form of
color(white)("XXX")color(green)(y=4x-4)