notes slope, distance, midpoint.
notebook November 06, 2010
Notes on Slope, Distance, and Midpoint
• Slope of a Straight Line
One of the most important properties of a straight line is in how it
angles away from the horizontal. This concept is reflected in
something called the "slope" of the line.
Let's take a look at the straight line:
y = 2/3 x - 4. The graph is at the right:
• To find the slope of the line, we will need two points
from that line.
x1 y 1 x2 y2
Let's pick: (0, -4), (6, 0)
Remember: Δy / Δx -4 -2
/6 = /3
A formula is: y1 - y2
x1 - x2
-4 - 0 -4 2
= = 3
0-6 -6
will also see it as: y2 - y1 0 - -4 2
x2 - x1 = = 4 =
6-0 6 3
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notes slope, distance, [Link] November 06, 2010
Let's find the slope of another linear graph
1. First pick two points
(0, 3), (1, 1)
2. Find the change in y values and x values
3-1 2
=
0-1 -1
3. Can you write the explicit equation?
y = -2x + 3
Increasing lines have positive slopes; decreasing lines have
negative slopes. With this in mind, consider the following
horizontal line:
What is the explicit equation:
y = 0x + 4 or y=4
Is the horizontal line going up; that is, is it increasing line? No, so its slope
won't be positive. Is the horizontal line going down; that is, is it a
decreasing line? No, so its slope won't be negative. What number is neither
positive nor negative? ZERO! So the slope of this horizontal line is zero.
Using points (-3, 4), (5, 4): 4-4 = 0
-3 - 5 -8
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notes slope, distance, [Link] November 06, 2010
Now consider this Vertical line:
Is the vertical line going up on one end?
Well, kind of. Is the vertical line going down
on the other end? Well, kind of. Is there any
number that is both positive and negative?
NO! This type of number DOES NOT EXIST!
Vertical lines have NO SLOPE. Let's use the points:
(4, 5), (4, -3): 5 - -3 = 8
4- 4 0 undefined
What is the equation for
this line? x = 4
What is Distance?
It is how far one point is from another point.
The Distance Formula is a variant of the Pythagorean Theorem.
Suppose you're given the two points
(-2, 1), (1, 5), and you want to find out how
far apart they are.
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notes slope, distance, [Link] November 06, 2010
You can draw in the lines that form a right triangle, using these points as
vertices.
It's easy to find the lengths of the horizontal and verticals sides
of the right triangle: just subtract the x-values and
the y-values.
Or you can just count the distance.
Then use the Pythagorean Theorem to find the length of the
third side (which is the hypotenuse of the right triangle):
c2 = a2 + b 2
c2 = (5 - 1)2 + (1 - -2)2
c= (5 - 1)2 + (1 - -2)2
c= (4)2 + (3)2
c= 16 + 9 = 25 = 5
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notes slope, distance, [Link] November 06, 2010
The Distance Formula:
Given the two points (x1, y1) and (x2, y2), the distance between these
points is given by the formula:
d= (x1 - x2)2 + (y1 - y2)2
• Don't let the subscripts scare you. They only indicate that there is a
"first" point and a "second" point. Whichever one you call "first" or
"second" is up to you. The distance will be the same.
Find the distance between the points (-2, -3), (-4, 4)
d= (-2 - -4)2 + (-3 - 4)2 = (2)2 + (-7)2 = 53 ≈ 7.28
The Midpoint Formula:
Sometimes you need to find a point that is exactly between two other
points. For instance, you might need to find a line that bisects (divides into
equal halves) a given line segment. This middle point is called the
"midpoint".
If you are given two numbers, you can find the number exactly between
them by averaging them, by adding them together and dividing by two.
For example, the number exactly halfway between 5 and 10 is
(5 + 10) /2 = 15/2 = 7.5
The Midpoint Formula:
(x1 + x2) , (y1 + y2)
2 2
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notes slope, distance, [Link] November 06, 2010
Find the Midpoint between (-1, 2) and (3, -6)
-1 + 3 , 2 + -6 = 2 , -4 = (1, -2)
2 2 2 2
• Find the value of p so that (–2, 2.5) is the midpoint between
(p, 2) and (–1, 3).
p + -1 , 2+3 = (-2, 2.5) p-1 , 5 p-1 , 2.5
2 2 =
2 2 2
p-1 = -2 p - 1 = -4 p = -3
2
so the points would be: (-3, 2), (-1, 3)
