How do you find the distance between (-2,3), (-1,7)?

1 Answer
Feb 8, 2017

sqrt(17)

Explanation:

Think of the two points as two of the points on a triangle, with the hypotenuse between them. enter image source here

The height of the triangle will be mod(y_1 - y_2) = 4.
The base of the triangle will be mod(x_1 - x_2) = 1.

Therefore, the hypotenuse, and by extension the distance between the points is:
sqrt(4^2 + 1^2)
=sqrt(16 + 1)
=sqrt(17)

Note: mod just means that a negative result becomes positive.