How do you find the distance between the points (-4,2), (4,17)?

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Answer 1 · 2017-07-22T12:18:04

See a solution process below:

The formula for calculating the distance between two points is:

#d = sqrt((color(red)(x_2) - color(blue)(x_1))^2 + (color(red)(y_2) - color(blue)(y_1))^2)#

Substituting the values from the points in the problem gives:

#d = sqrt((color(red)(4) - color(blue)(-4))^2 + (color(red)(17) - color(blue)(2))^2)#

#d = sqrt((color(red)(4) + color(blue)(4))^2 + (color(red)(17) - color(blue)(2))^2)#

#d = sqrt(8^2 + 15^2)#

#d = sqrt(64 + 225)#

#d = sqrt(289)#

#d = 17#