Home page » Physicians formula » Distance formula » How to use the distance formula to find distances between 2 points.

How to use the distance formula to find distances between 2 points.

The distance formula can be obtained by creating a triangle and using the Pythagorean Theorem to find the length of the hypotenuse. The hypotenuse of the triangle will be the distance between the 2 points.

Suppose you are given the 2 points [–2 , 1] and [1, 5], and they want you to know how far apart they are. The points look like this:

You could draw in the lines that form a right angled triangle, using these points as 2 of the corners:

It isn't difficult to find out the lengths of the horizontal and vertical lines of the right triangle: just subtract the x- values and the y- values: Calculating distance formula

 

Then use the Pythagorean Theorem to find the length of the third side (which is the hypoteneuse of the right triangle)
c^2 = a^2 + b^2

distance formula

And here you are, now  you know how to use distance formula to find distances between 2 points!



Comments

No comments yet. Be first!

Your comment:
Name*:
Comment*:
(refresh this page if you can't read exact code above)
Security code*:
* - compulsory fields !


Friends