Square ABCD has sides of length 4, and M is the midpoint of CD . A circle with radius 2 and center intersects a circle with radius 4 and center A at points P and D . What is the distance from P to AD?

Please help - I drew the diagram, but looks kinda wierd, and dunno which line to add for the distance from P to AD.

16/5

To find the distance from point P to line AD, you will need to extend a line from P perpendicular to AD, and then measure the length of that line segment. Here's how you can solve the problem step by step:

1. Draw square ABCD with sides of length 4 units.
2. Mark point M as the midpoint of CD.
3. Draw a circle with radius 2 units and center M. This circle will intersect AD at point D.
4. Draw a circle with radius 4 units and center A. This circle will intersect the previous circle at points P and D.

Now, to find the distance from point P to line AD, follow these steps:

5. Extend line AD on both sides beyond point D.
6. Draw a line segment from point P perpendicular to AD. This line segment should intersect AD at point Q.
7. Measure the length of line segment PQ.

The distance from point P to line AD is equal to the length of line segment PQ.

To find the distance from point P to line AD, we need to draw a line from P perpendicular to AD and find the length of that perpendicular line. Let's break it down step by step:

Step 1: Draw square ABCD and label the points.

Step 2: Draw the circles with radius 2 and 4, and note the points of intersection between the two circles as A and D.

Step 3: Draw line AD and label the midpoint as M.

Step 4: Draw a line from P perpendicular to AD. Label the point where the line intersects AD as X.

Step 5: Now, we have right triangle APX, where PX is the desired distance from P to AD.

Step 6: Since point X lies on line AD, we know that MX is half the length of AD. Since AD has a length of 4 units, MX has a length of 2 units.

Step 7: In triangle APX, we have AP as the radius of the small circle, which is 2 units.

Step 8: We also have AX as the radius of the big circle minus MX. So, AX = 4 - 2 = 2 units.

Step 9: Now, we can use the Pythagorean theorem in triangle APX to find the length of PX. The Pythagorean theorem states that in a right triangle, the square of the length of the hypotenuse is equal to the sum of the squares of the other two sides.

So, AP^2 + PX^2 = AX^2.
2^2 + PX^2 = 2^2.

Simplifying the equation:
4 + PX^2 = 4.

Subtracting 4 from both sides:
PX^2 = 0.

Taking the square root of both sides, we get:
PX = 0.

Step 10: The distance from P to AD is 0 units, which means that point P lies on line AD.

Therefore, the distance from P to AD is 0 units.