Question

A small drone is positioned at point A (3, −4, 2) relative to a fixed origin. A target is located at point B (1, 0, 2).

What is the shortest distance the drone needs to travel to reach the target, assuming it can fly directly?

Answer 1

Distance = |B − A|. B − A = (1 − 3, 0 − (−4), 2 − 2) = (−2, 4, 0).
Length = sqrt((-2)^2 + 4^2 + 0^2) = sqrt(4 + 16) = sqrt(20) = 2√5 ≈ 4.472.