Question

What is the distance between (2, -1) and (-1, -5) on the coordinate plane?

A) 7 units
B) 4 units
C) 6 units
D) 5 units

Answer 1

To calculate the distance between the points (2, -1) and (-1, -5) on a coordinate plane, use the distance formula. After following the steps of the distance formula, you'll find the distance is 5 units.

Step-by-step explanation:

The distance between two points on a coordinate plane can be calculated using the distance formula, which is derived from the Pythagorean theorem. To find the distance between the points (2, -1) and (-1, -5), the following steps can be used:

1. Subtract the x-coordinates of the two points to find the difference in the x-direction. (2 - (-1)) = 3
2. Subtract the y-coordinates of the two points to find the difference in the y-direction. (-1 - (-5)) = 4
3. Now square each of these differences: 32 = 9 and 42 = 16.
4. Add these squared differences together: 9 + 16 = 25.
5. Take the square root of this sum to get the distance: √25 = 5.

Therefore, the distance between the points (2, -1) and (-1, -5) is 5 units.