Answer :
Answer:
The slope of the altitude BM is [tex]\frac{1}{3}[/tex]
Solution:
Given that A(5,4), B(-3,-2) and C(1,-8) are the vertices of a triangle ABC . We have to find the slope of altitude BM
The figure of the given question is given below. Here M is the mid-point of side AC.
To find the slope of altitude BM, we need to first find the slope of AC.
The slope of AC is given by
[tex]\frac{y_{2}-y_{1}}{x_{2}-x_{1}}[/tex] ---- eqn 1
Given that points of A(5,4) and C(1,-8)
Here we get [tex]y_{2}=-8[/tex]
[tex]y_{1}=4[/tex]
[tex]x_{2}=1[/tex]
[tex]x_{1}=5[/tex]
Now substituting the values in eqn (1), we get
[tex]\text { Slope of } \mathrm{AC}=\frac{-8-4}{1-5}[/tex]
[tex]=\frac{-12}{-4}[/tex]
= 3
The slope of the Altitude BM is given by the reciprocal of the slope of AC since M is the midpoint of AC.
[tex]\text { Slope of } \mathrm{BM}=\frac{1}{\text { slope of } A C}[/tex]
Slope of BM = [tex]\frac{1}{3}[/tex]
Thus the slope of the altitude BM is [tex]\frac{1}{3}[/tex]
