Explain how to find the distance between the points (28 -17) and (-15-17) on a coordinate plane?

Answer 1

To find the distance between any two points on the Cartesian plane use Pythagoras:

The distance between (x0, y0) and (x1, y1) is given by:

distance = √((x1 - x0)² + (y1 - y0)²)

→ distance between (28, -17) and (-15, -17) is:

distance = √((x1 - x0)² + (y1 - y0)²)

= √((-15 - 28)² + (-17 - -17)²)

= √((-43)² + (0))

= √1849

= 43

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In this case, the y-coordinates are the same (y0 = y1 = -17), so this becomes:

distance = √((x1 - x0)² + (y0 - y0)²) = √((x1 - x0)² + 0²) = √((x1 - x0)²) = |x1 - x0|

The vertical bars around the expression mean the absolute value of the expression, which is the numerical value of the expression ignoring the sign.

distance = |x1 - x0| = |-15 - 28| = |-43| = 43.

Answer 2

The ordinates are the same so the only contribution to the distance comes from the abscissa. The distance in that direction is 28 - -15 = 28 + 15 = 43.