SAT Math : Distance Formula

Study concepts, example questions & explanations for SAT Math

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Example Questions

Example Question #11 : Distance Formula

Find the Distance of the line shown below:

Screen shot 2015 10 27 at 3.11.25 pm

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

The distance formula is . In the graph shown above the coordinates are  and . When you plug the coordinates into the equation you get:

, which then simplifies to 

, because  is a prime number there is no need to simplify. 

Example Question #11 : Distance Formula

The endpoints of the diameter of a circle are located at (0,0) and (4, 5). What is the area of the circle?

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

First, we want to find the value of the diameter of the circle with the given endpoints. We can use the distance formula here:

If the diameter is , then the radius is half of that, or .

We can then plug that radius value into the formula for the area of a circle.

Example Question #551 : Geometry

What is the distance between the origin and the point ?

Possible Answers:

None of the given answers. 

Correct answer:

Explanation:

The distance between two points  and  is given by the Distance Formula:

Let  and . Substitute these values into the Distance Formula.

To simplify this square root, find a common denominator between the two terms.

Both 4 and  are perfect squares, so we can take their square roots to find

The distance between our two points is .

Example Question #551 : Sat Mathematics

One long line segment stretches from  to . Within that line segment is another, shorter segment that spans from  to . What is the distance between the two points on the shorter line segment? 

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

The distance between two points  and  is given by the following formula:

Let  and let . When we plug these two coordinates into the equation we get:

Example Question #552 : Geometry

Find the distance from the center of the given circle to the point .

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

Remember that the general equation of a circle with center  and radius  is 

With this in mind, the center of our circle is . To find the distance from this point to , we can use the distance formula. 

Example Question #553 : Geometry

The following points represent the vertices of a box. Find the length of the box's diagonal. 

Possible Answers:

None of the given answers

Correct answer:

Explanation:

To solve this problem let's choose two vertices that lie diagonally from one another. Let's choose  and 

We can plug these two points into the Distance Formula, and that will give us the length of the box's diagonal. 

Example Question #554 : Geometry

What is the length of the line between the points  and ?

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

Step 1: We need to recall the distance formula, which helps us calculate the length of a line between the two points.

The formula is: , where distance and  are my two points.

Step 2: We need to identify .



Step 3: Substitute the values in step 2 into the formula:



Step 4: Start evaluating the parentheses:



Step 5: Evaluate the exponents inside the square root



Step 6: Add the inside:



Step 7: We need to evaluate  in a calculator

Example Question #11 : Distance Formula

Give the length, in terms of , of a segment on the coordinate plane whose endpoints are   and .

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

The length of a segment with endpoints  and  can be calculated using the distance formula:

Setting  and  and substituting:

The binomials can be rewritten using the perfect square trinomial pattern:

Simplify and collect like terms:

Example Question #11 : How To Find The Length Of A Line With Distance Formula

In terms of , give the length of a segment on the coordinate plane with endpoints  and .

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

The length of a segment with endpoints  and  can be calculated using the distance formula:

Setting  and , and substituting:

The binomials can be rewritten using the perfect square trinomial pattern:

Simplify and collect like terms:

Example Question #11 : How To Find The Length Of A Line With Distance Formula

Give the length, in terms of , of a line segment on the coordinate plane whose endpoints are  and .

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

The length of a segment with endpoints  can be calculated using the distance formula 

Substituting , and simplifying"

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