Find the distance from point a(−1, 7) to the line y=3x. round your answer to the nearest tenth.

To find the distance from a point to a line,
step 1: find the line that goes through the given point AND is perpendicular to the given line.
the slope of a perpendicular line is the negative reciprocal of the given line. In this case, the slope of the given line is 3, which is 3/1, so the slope of the perpendicular line should be -1/3, negative one out of 3
use the point-slope form to write the equation of the new line: (y-7)=(-1/3)(x+1)
simply, you will have: y=(-1/3)x+(20/3)
Step 2: find out where the two lines meet, that is, solve the two equations:
y=3x
y=(-1/3)x+(20/3)
(-1/3)x+20/3)=3x =>x=2, and y=3x=6
the two lines intersect at the point (2, 6)
step 3: use the distance between two points formula to find the distance:
d=√(7-6)^2+(2+1)^2 =√10 =3.16