INTRODUCTION

The purpose of this project is to create modular courses to support student success as well as

promote equity for underrepresented students. Furthermore, this project will help to facilitate and to

better serve the educational needs for adults. Consequently, all students will be granted an opportunity

to benefit from such offerings. These module can support student in existing courses or provide

remediation for those who need a refresher. However, this project takes it a step further and offers

credit for the various modules. The focus is on preparing students to succeed in math, one step at a time

and with a prescriptive mindset.

This module is all about Distance, it helps the reader to better understand the topic even if they

are in their own home. They have given examples about the topic and its step by step process on how to

solve that given problem. If they already understand the topic, they have to answer the given exercises

at the last part of this module. I have also given key to correction each exercises so that they can refer

their work with the correct answers given.

DEFINITION
Distance is a numerical description of how far apart objects are. In physics or everyday

usage, distance may refer to a physical length, or an estimation based on other criteria (e.g. "two

counties over"). In mathematics, a distance function or metric is a generalization of the concept of

physical distance. A metric is a function that behaves according to a specific set of rules, and is a

concrete way of describing what it means for elements of some space to be "close to" or "far away

from" each other. In most cases, "distance from A to B" is interchangeable with "distance between B

and A".
 Distance Between 2 Points
Here is how to calculate the distance between two points when you know their
coordinates:

Let us call the two points A and B

We can run lines down from A, and along from B, to make a Right Angled
Triangle .

And with a little help from Pythagoras we know that:

a2 + b2 = c2
Now label the coordinates of points A and B.

xA means the x-coordinate of point A

yA means the y-coordinate of point A

The horizontal distance a is (xA − xB)

The vertical distance b is (yA − yB)

Now we can solve for c (the distance between the points):

Start with: c2 = a 2 + b 2

Put in the calculations for a and b: c2 = (xA − xB)2 + (yA − yB)2

And the final result:

Examples:

Example 1

Fill in the values:

Example 2

It doesn't matter what order the points are in, because squaring removes any
negatives:

Fill in the values:

Example 3

And here is another example with some negative coordinates ... it all still works:
Fill in the values:

(Note √136 can be further simplified to 2√34 if you want)

Three or More Dimensions

It works perfectly well in 3 (or more dimensions) !

Square the difference for each axis, then sum them up and take the square
root:

The distance between the two points (9,2,7) and (4,8,10) is:
 DISTANCE FROM A POINT TO A LINE
We must often express the distance from a point to a line in terms of the coefficients in
the equation of the line. To do this, we compare the two forms of the equation of a straight line,
as follows:

General equation: Ax + By + C = 0

Normal form:

The general equation and the normal form represent the same straight line. Therefore, A (the
coefficient of x in the general form) is proportional to cos 0 (the coefficient of x in the normal
form).

By similar reasoning, B is proportional to sin 0, and C is proportional to -p. Recalling that

quantities proportional to each other form ratios involving a constant of proportionality, let k be
this constant. Thus, we have

Squaring both sides of these two expressions and then adding, we have

The coefficients in the normal form, expressed in terms of A, B, and C, are as follows:

The sign of is chosen so as to make p (a distance) always positive.

The conversion formulas developed in the foregoing discussion are used in finding the distance
from a point to a line. Let p represent the distance of line LK from the origin. (See fig. 1-10.)
To find d, the distance from point P, to line LK , we construct a line

Figure 1-10.-Distance from a point to a line.

through P, parallel to L K . The distance of this line from the origin is OS, and the difference
between OS and p is d.

We obtain an expression for d, based on the coordinates of P,, as follows:

and

Returning to the expressions for sin 0, cos 0, and p in terms of A, B, and C (the coefficients in the
general equation), we have

In the formula for d, the denominator in each of the expressions is the same. Therefore, we may
combine terms as follows:

We use the absolute value, since d is a distance, and thus avoid any confusion arising from the ±
radical.

Note that the absolute value,|| of a number is defined as follows:

and

That is, for the positive number 2,

|2|=2

For the negative number -2,

The absolute value of is

EXAMPLES:

Ex.1 Find the distance from the point (2,1) to the line 4x+2y+7=0.

SOLUTION:

Ex. 2

Find the perpendicular distance from the point (5, 6) to the line −2x +
3y + 4 = 0, using the formula we just found.

= | (-2)(5)+(3)(6)+4 |
 √4 + 9
= 3.328
Here is the graph of the situation. We can see that our answer of just over 3
units is reasonable.

So the required distance is 3.3 units, correct to 1 decimal place.

Ex 3

Find the distance from the point \displaystyle{\left(-{3},{7}\right)}(−3,7) to

the line y=56x+2

We first need to express the given line in standard form.

6
y= x + 2
5

5y=6x+10

6x-5y+10=0

Using the formula for the distance from a point to a line, we have:

= | (6)(-3) + (-5)(7) + 10 |
√36 + 25

=| -5.506|

= 5.506

So the required distance is 5.506 units, correct to 3 decimal places.

Distance between parallel lines
Distance between two parallel lines we calculate as
the distance between intersections of the lines and
a plane orthogonal to the given lines.
The direction vector of the plane orthogonal to the
given lines is collinear or coincides with their
direction vectors that is
N = s = ai + b j + ck
By plugging any of two points, which are included in
the equations of the given lines, into the equation of
the plane, determined is the parameter D, as well
as determined is one of the intersection points.

Example: Find the distance between given parallel lines,

Solution: The direction vector of a plane orthogonal to the parallel lines is collinear with the direction
vectorsof these lines, so N = s = 2i  9 j  2k.

Let the plane passes through the point A´2(5, 3, 6) of the second line, then

A´2(5, 3, 6) => Ax + By + Cz + D = 0 or 2 · (5)  9 · (3) + (2) · 6 + D = 0, D = 5

thus, the equation of the plane 2x  9y  2z  5 = 0, besides the point A´2(5, 3, 6) is the
intersection of the second line and the plane.
The intersection of the first line and the plane we calculate as follows,
 The distance between the intersection points A´1 and A´2 is at the same time the distance
between given lines, thus

Distance between two skew lines

Through one of a given skew lines lay a plane parallel to another line and calculate the distance
between any point of that line and the plane.
The direction vector of planes, which
are parallel to both lines, is coincident with the
vector product of direction vectors of given
lines, so we can write

N = s1  s2

A plane to lie on the one of the given

lines, we should plug the point, that is
included into the equation of the line, into the
equation of the plane and so determined is
the parameter D of the plane.

Example: Find the distance between given skew lines,

Solution: Through the line l1 lay a plane parallel to the line l2. The direction vector of the plane,

The point included in the equation of the line l1 must satisfy the equation of the plane, so

P1(7, 10, 5) => Ax + By + Cz + D = 0, 20 · 7 + (4) · (10) + (22) · (5) + D = 0,

D = 290 thus, the equation of the plane 20x  4y  22z  290 = 0.

The distance between the point T2(6, 1, 2), of the line l2, and the plane which is parallel to it

As was already mentioned, the sign of the square root is taken to be opposite to the sign of the
parameter D.
Therefore, the negative value of the result only informs us that the point is positioned at the same
side as the origin of the coordinate system.
TEST
I. Distance between two points

1. Find the distance between point (-1, -3) and the midpoint of the line segment joining (2, 4)
and (4, 6).
2. The co-ordinate points are (2,5) and (3,1).
3. Find the radius of a circle, given that the center is at (2, –3) and the point (–1, –2) lies on
the circle.
4. Find all points (4, y) that are 10 units from the point (–2, –1).
5. Find the distance between the points (2, 3) and (0, 6).

II. Distance from point to line

1. To find distance between line 3x + 4y - 6 = 0 and point M(-1, 3).

2. Find the distance from the point P=(4,−4,3)P=(4,−4,3) to the plane 2x−2y+5z+8=0
3. Find the distance between the point (5,1) and the line y=3x+1
4. Find the distance between the point (1,2,3) and the plane x+2y-3z=44
5. Fi n d th e di stan c e f r om Poi n t P = (2 , − 1 ) t o th e l i n e r = 3 x + 4 y = 0.

III. Di stan c e b etw e en t wo l i n es

1. y= 3x and y= 3x+10 find the distance between each pair of parallel lines
2. find the distance of two lines y = 3x + 2 and y = 3x – 2
3. Find the distance between the two parallel lines, 4x-3y-12=0 and 4x-3y+9=0
4. Calculate the distance between two parallel lines y = 2x + 4 and y = 2x - 1.
5. Find the shortest distance between the parallel lines 3x - 4y + 7 = 0 and
3x - 4y + 5 = 0.
ANSWERS.

I.

1. We first find the coordinates of the midpoint M of the segemnt joining (2, 4) and
(4, 6)

M = [ (2 + 4) / 2 , (4 + 6) / 2 ]

= (3, 5)
We now use the distance formula to find the distance between the points (-1, -3)
and (3, 5)

D = √ [ (3 - (-1)) 2 + (5 - (-3)) 2 ]

= √(80)

=4√5

2.

Step 1 :
Substituting the values in the formula, √ [(3-2)2 + (1-5)2]
Step 2 :
Simplifying, √ [12 + (-4)2] = √17
Step 3 :
4.12311 is the distance between 2 points.
3. The radius is the distance between the center and any point on the circle, so I need
to find the distance:

Then the radius is sqrt(10), or about 3.16, rounded to two decimal places.

4. I'll plug the two points and the distance into the Distance Formula:

Now I'll square both sides, so I can get to the variable:

 This means y = –9 or y = 7, so the two points are (4, –9) and (4, 7).

5. The formula for the distance D between two points (a, b) and (c, d) is given by

D = sqrt [ (c - a) 2 + (d - b) 2 ]
Apply the formula given above to find distance D between the points (2, 3) and
(0,,6) as follows

D = √ [ (0 - 2) 2 + (6 - 3) 2 ]

= √ (13)

II.

1. d = |3·(-1) + 4·3 - 6| |-3 + 12 - 6| |3|

= = = 0.6
√ 32 + 42 √ 9 + 16 5

Answer: distance from point to line is equal to 0.6.

2. From the equation for the plane we
substitute A=2A=2, B=−2B=−2, C=5C=5, D=8D=8. From the point PP, we
substitute x1=4x1=4, y1=−4y1=−4, and z1=3z1=3. The distance from PP to the
plane is

d=|2⋅4+(−2)⋅(−4)+5⋅3+8|
22+(−2)2+52
= 39
√33
≈6.8
3. d= |3(5) − 1(1) + 1|
√32 + (−1)2

= 15
√10

4. d= |1(1) + 2(2) − 3(3) + 44|

√12 + 22 + (−3)^2

= 40
 √14

5.

III.
1. Find the perpendicular line that goes through (0,0).
Since perpendicular lines have slopes that are negative
reciprocals,

3m2= -1 Using the origin,

Now look for the intersection of and

Then find the y coordinate,

Now find the distance from (0,0) to (-3,1) using the distance
formula,

2. Step #1. Find an equation of a perpendicular line to any of the parallel lines.

we will find the equation of a perpendicular line to Line #1. Since the slope of line #1 is
3. The slope of a perpendicular line will be the negative reciprocal of 3, which is -
1/3. Therefore the equation of a perpendicular line to line #1 will look like

Perpendicular line: y = -1/3x + b

We will need to find "b" (which is the y intercept). In order to do that, we will need to find an
ordered pair (x, y) that will satisfy this perpendicular line. Why not use an ordered pair on
Line #1 that we know for sure, such as (0, 2), which is the y intercept of Line #1. We can
substitute (0, 2) into the perpendicular line y = -1/3x + b

2 = -1/3(0) + b
2=b

So the equation of the perpendicular line is

Line #3: y = -1/3x + 2

Since Line #2 and Line #3 has to intersect at some point, we are basically trying to solve the
2 linear equation.

Line #2: y = 3x - 2
Line #3: y = -1/3x + 2

3x - 2 = -1/3x + 2
3 1/3x = 4
x = 4/(3 1/3)
x = 6/5

Substitute x = 6/5 into either Line #2 or Line #3, you will get y = 8/5.

So Line #2 and Line #3 intersects at the point (6/5, 8/5). We can then use the distance
formula to find the distance between points (0, 2) and (6/5, 8/5).

Distance formula = sqrt[(x2 - x1)^2 + (y2 - y1)^2]

Distance = sqrt[(6/5 - 0)^2 + (8/5 - 2)^2] = sqrt[36/25 + 4/25] = sqrt(40/25)

d= 2√ (10)/5

3. Rewrite both equations

1.) y = 4/3x -4
2.) y = 4/3x +3

Write the equation for the line that is perpendicular to the first equation

3.) y = -3/4x -4

Now set equation 3.) equal to equation 2.) and that will find the point on the second
line that is perpendicular to the y intercept of the first line.

-3/4x - 4 = 4/3x + 3

solve for x

-3/4x -4 - 4/3x -3 = 0

-9/12x - 16/12x -7 = 0
 -25/12 x = 7

x = - 7*12/25 or -3.36

stick that back in either equation 2.) or 3.) and solve for y

y = 4/3x +3

y = -1.48

Next use the distance formula for (0 , -4) and (-3.36, -1.48)

D = sqrt [(-3.36-0)^2 + (-1.48- -4)^2]

Answer is 4.2

4. Comparing these with the general equations of parallel lines y = mx + c11 and y =
mx + c22, we obtain

c1c1 = 4, c2c2 = -1 and m = 2

The formula for shortest distance is given by the relation:

d = |c1−c2|1+m2√
d = |4−(−1)|1+22√|4−(−1)|1+22

d = 55√55

d = 5–√5 = 2.236 unit

5. Converting them in the slope-intercept form, we get

3x - 4y + 7 = 0

4y = 3x + 7

$y = 3434 x + 7474

And 4y = 3x + 5
 $y = 3434 x + 5454

Comparing these with the equations of parallel lines y = mx + c11 and y = mx + c22,
we obtain

c1c1 = 7474, c2c2 = 5454 and m = 3434

The formula for shortest distance is given by the relation:

d = |74−54|1+(34)2√|74−54|1+(34)2

d = 241+916√
d = 122516√122516

d = 12541254

d = 2525

d = 0.4 unit