Find the distance between points (-2,1) and (1,5)
When finding the distance between these 2 points would you subtract 1-(-2) or -2-1? The same question with the other one as well.
See my other answer. The distance is 5.
It doesn't matter because then the difference is squared.
To find the distance between two points, you can use the distance formula, which is derived from the Pythagorean theorem. The formula is as follows:
Distance = sqrt((x2 - x1)^2 + (y2 - y1)^2)
Let's apply this formula to your problem.
Given the points (-2, 1) and (1, 5), we can label them as follows:
Point 1: (x1, y1) = (-2, 1)
Point 2: (x2, y2) = (1, 5)
To find the horizontal distance, you take the difference between the x-coordinates: x2 - x1 = 1 - (-2) = 3.
To find the vertical distance, you take the difference between the y-coordinates: y2 - y1 = 5 - 1 = 4.
Now, plug these values into the distance formula:
Distance = sqrt((3)^2 + (4)^2)
= sqrt(9 + 16)
= sqrt(25)
= 5
So, the distance between the points (-2, 1) and (1, 5) is 5 units.