Halfway there, and how far
Two jobs on the grid today, both on two points: for the first landmark and for the second. The midpoint is pure fairness: average the x's, average the y's: , and the same again for y. Meet in the middle, coordinate by coordinate. (The classic slip is halving the GAP instead of averaging the ENDS — that gives how far the middle is, not where it is.)
The distance between two points is old wisdom in new clothes: the run and the rise make the two legs of a right triangle, and Pythagoras does the rest — , d equals the square root of run-squared plus rise-squared — where is the run and is the rise ( is delta, and it only ever means “the change in”). Legs 3 and 4? The span is 5. The 3-4-5 family and its cousins (6-8-10, 5-12-13) will follow you all the way to the trigonometry chapter — learn their faces now and they'll wave back later.
- = Midpoint coordinate
- = First endpoint coordinate
- = Second endpoint coordinate
each variable a length
- = First point x-coordinate
- = First point y-coordinate
- = Second point x-coordinate
- = Second point y-coordinate
- = Distance between the points
each variable a length
- = Leg a
- = Leg b
- = Hypotenuse c
each variable a length