Question

What methods could you use to calculate the x-coordinate of the midpoint of a horizontal segment with the endpoints of (-20, 0) and (20, 0)?. . A. divide 0 by 20 . B. calculate the average of the x-coordinates . C. divide 20 by 2 . D. divide 2 by 20 . E. take the average of the endpoints .

Answer 1

Option B is correct .

Explanation:

Consider the line segment joining points
`A\left ( x_1,y_1 \right )\,,\,B\left ( x_2,y_2 \right )` . It's midpoint is given by
`\left ( (x_1+x_2)/(2),(y_1+y_2)/(2) \right )` .

Midpoint is basically the centre point of a line segment .

Here, given points are
`\left ( -20,0 \right )\,,\,\left ( 20,0 \right )` .

Consider the following:

`\left ( x_1,y_1 \right )=\left ( -20,0 \right )\\\left ( x_2,y_2 \right )=\left ( 20,0 \right )`

To find: x-coordinate of the midpoint of a horizontal segment with the endpoints
`(-20,0) , (20,0)` .

Solution:

x-coordinate =
`(x_1+x_2)/(2)`

On putting
`x_1=-20\,,\,x_2=20` , we get

x - coordinate =
`(-20+20)/(2)=0`

So, here we calculate the average of x-coordinates .

Option B is correct .

Answer 2

The coordinates (abscissa and ordinates) of the midpoint of the line segment is the average of the abscissas and the ordinates, respectively. Therefore, the x - coordinate of the midpoint is equal to -20 + 20 or 0 by 2 which is zero. The answer is letter E.