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| Question 484041:  Use the Pythagorean Theorem to find the distance between X(7,11) and Y(-1,5)
 Found 2 solutions by  cleomenius, MathTherapy:
 Answer by cleomenius(959)
      (Show Source): 
You can put this solution on YOUR website! First, plot your points on a graph. Plot a point that will connect the two and form a right triangle, I formed the point Z( 7,5)
 Now, determine the disance between points
 7 + 1 = 8 YZ
 11- 6 = 5 XZ
 Use the formula a^2 + b^2 = c^2  to find the distance from XY.
 8^2 + 5^2 =
  This is our answer. Cleomenius.
 
Answer by MathTherapy(10556)
      (Show Source): 
You can put this solution on YOUR website! Use the Pythagorean Theorem to find the distance between X(7,11) and Y(-1,5) 
 Let the third coordinate point of the right triangle be W.
 If diagram is drawn, it’ll be seen that in order to get W (the third x-coordinate point of the right triangle), we simply subtract the smaller of the two x-coordinates from the larger. In this case, 7 – (- 1), or 7 + 1 = 8. We do the same for the y-coordinate, as follows: 11 – 5 = 6.
 This means that YW (horizontal line that’s parallel to the x-axis) has a length of 8, and XW (the vertical line that’s parallel to the y-axis) has a length of 6.
 With this, we can now find YX using the Pythagorean theorem. Therefore, we can say that:
 
  
  
  
  
   
 10 = XY
 Therefore, distance = XY =
  units 
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 Check
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 The distance formula,
  , can be used to verify the correctness of this answer. 
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