In your own words, how can the Pythagorean Theorem be used to find the distance between two points on the coordinate plane?
1 answer
The Pythagorean Theorem can be used to find the distance between two points on the coordinate plane by treating the coordinates of the two points as the lengths of the legs of a right triangle. By plotting the two points on the coordinate plane and drawing a line connecting them, we can create a right triangle. The Pythagorean Theorem states that the sum of the squares of the lengths of the two legs of a right triangle is equal to the square of the length of the hypotenuse. By using this formula, we can calculate the distance between the two points as the hypotenuse of the right triangle formed by the two points.