Distance Between Two Points

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Distance between two points

Here is how to calculate the distance between two points when you know their coordinates:

 

 

Let us call the two points A and B

 

 

We can run lines down from A, and along from B, to make a Right Angled Triangle.

And with a little help from Pythagoras we know that:  a2 + b2 = c2

 

Now label the coordinates of points A and B.

xA means the x-coordinate of point A  yA means the y-coordinate of point A

The horizontal distance a is (xA ? xB)  

The vertical distance b is (yA ? yB)

Now we can solve for c (the distance between the points):

Start with:  c2 = a2 + b2

Put in the calculations for a and b:   c2 = (xA ? xB)2 + (yA ? yB)2

And the final result: c = square root of [(xA-xB)^2+(yA-yB)^2]

 

Examples

 

 

 

Proportional division of a line (section formula)


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