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2. Find the distance between point (-1, -3) and the midpoint of the line segment joining (2, 4)
and (4, 6).
3. Find x so that the distance between the points (-2, -3) and (-3, x) is equal to 5.
4. Find x and y if (2, 5) is the midpoint of points (x, y) and (-5, 6).
5. Find the point (0, y) that is equidistant from (4, -9) and (0, -2).
6. Show that the triangle that has (0, 1), (2, 3) and (2, -1) as vertices is right isosceles.
7. Find the length of the hypotenuse of the right triangle whose vertices are given by the points
(-2, 1), (1, 1) and (1, 2).
8. Find a relationship between x and y so that the distance between the points (x, y) and (-2, 4)
is equal to 5.
9. Find a relationship between x and y so that (x, y) is equidistant from the two points (-3, 4)
and (0, -3).
10. Find a relationship between x and y so that the triangle whose vertices are given by (x, y), (1,
1) and (5, 1) is a right triangle with the hypotenuse defined by the points (1, 1) and (5, 1).
11. Find the value of m, such that D1, D2, D3 meet each other at one
point.
D1: x - y = 1
D2: 2x + y = 5
D3: (2m - 5)x - my = 3
Solution:
D1:x−y=1D1:x−y=1
D2=2x+y=5D2=2x+y=5
→3x=6→x=2,y=1→3x=6→x=2,y=1
(2m−5)x−my=3→(2m−5)2−m=3→4m−10−m=3→3m=13→m=133
12. Find k if the distance between (k,0) and (0, 2k) is 10 units.
This is the situation:
Solution to Problem 1:
The formula for the distance D between two points (a, b) and (c, d) is given by
D = sqrt [ (c - a) 2 + (d - b) 2 ]
Apply the formula given above to find distance D between the points (2, 3) and
(0, 6) as follows
D = sqrt [ (0 - 2) 2 + (6 - 3) 2 ]
= sqrt (13)
Solution to Problem 2:
We first find the coordinates of the midpoint M of the segemnt joining (2, 4) and
(4, 6)
M = [ (2 + 4) / 2 , (4 + 6) / 2 ]
= (3, 5)
We now use the distance formula to find the distance between the points (-1, -3)
and (3, 5)
Solution to Problem 3:
5 = srqt [ 1 + (x + 3) 2 ]
25 = 1 + (x + 3) 2
Solve for x
(x + 3) 2 = 24
(2, 5) = [ (x + (-5)) / 2 , (y + 6) / 2 ]
2 = (x - 5) / 2 and 5 = (y + 6) / 2
x = 9 and y = 4
Solution to Problem 5:
Use distance formula to find distance the D1 from (0, y) to (4, -9) and the
distance D2 from (0, y) to (0, -2).
D1 = sqrt [ (4 - 0) 2 + (-9 - y) 2 ]
D2 = sqrt [ (0 - 0) 2 + (-2 - y) 2 ]
16 + (-9 - y) 2 = (-2 - y) 2
16 + 81 + 18 y + y 2 = 4 + y 2 + 4 y
y = -93 / 14
The point that equidistant from the two given points is given by
(0 , -93 / 14)
Solution to Problem 6:
Note that two sides of the triangle have equal lengths so the triangle is isosceles.
For the triangle to be a right triangle, D3 the largest of the three distances must
be the length of the hypotenuse and all three sides must satisfy Pythagora's
theorem. Let us find the sum of the squares of D1 and D2 and the square of D3
(D3) 2 = 4 2 = 16
We can write
D1, D2 and D3 satisfy Pythagora's theorem and therefore the triangle, whose
vertices are the three points given above, is a right and isosceles triangle.
Solution to Problem 7:
Let D1 be the distance from (-2, 1) to (1, 1), D2 be the distance from (-2, 1) to (1,
2) and D3 the distance from (1, 1) to (1, 2). We now use the distance formula to
find these distances.
D1 = sqrt [ (1 - -2) 2 + (1 - 1) 2 ] = 3
D3 = sqrt [ (1 - 1) 2 + (2 - 1) 2 ] = 1
If the triangle defined by the three vertices is a right triangle, the hypotenuse is
the side with the largest size and that is D2 = sqrt (10). We now use Pythagora's
theorem to check that it is a right triangle with D2 the hypotenuse and D1 and D3
the sides of the triangle.
(D1) 2 + (D3) 2 = 3 2 + 1 2 = 10
(D2) 2 = sqrt(10) 2 = 10
Solution to Problem 8:
5 = sqrt [ (-2 - x) 2 + (4 - y) 2 ]
25 = (-2 - x) 2 + (4 - y) 2
Solution to Problem 9:
D1 = sqrt [ (-3 - x) 2 + (4 - y) 2 ]
Let D2 be the distance from (x, y) to (0, -3) and find it.
D2 = sqrt [ (0 - x) 2 + (-3 - y) 2 ]
(-3 - x) 2 + (4 - y) 2 = (0 - x) 2 + (-3 - y) 2
9 + x 2 + 6 x + 16 - 8 y + y 2 = x 2 + 9 + y 2 + 6y
6x - 14 y + 16 = 0
The above relationship between x and y is the equation of a line which is the
perpendicular bisector of the line segment defined by the points (-3, 4) and (0, -
3).
Let us use the distance formula to find the length of the hypotenuse h.
h = sqrt [ (5 - 1) 2 + (1 - 1) 2 ] = 4
We now use the distance formula to find the sizes of the two other sides a and b
of the triangle.
a = sqrt [ (x - 1) 2 + (y - 1) 2 ]
b = sqrt [ (x - 5) 2 + (y - 1) 2 ]
4 2 = (x - 1) 2 + (y - 1) 2 + (x - 5) 2 + (y - 1) 2
Expand the squares, simplify and complete the squares to rewrite the above
relationship between x and y as follows.
(x - 3) 2 + (y - 1) 2 = 2 2
The above relationship between x and y is the equation of a circle. Explain why.