Question

Use the distance formula to calculate the length of the leg CD

Answer 1

To calculate the distance between two points on the coordinate system you have to use the following formula:

$d=\sqrt[]{(x_1-x_2)^2+(y_1-y_2)^2}$

Where

d represents the distance between both points.

(x₁,y₁) are the coordinates of one of the points.

(x₂,y₂) are the coordinates of the second point.

To determine the length of CD, the first step is to determine the coordinates of both endpoints from the graph

C(2,-1)

D(-1,-2)

Replace the coordinates on the formula using C(2,-1) as (x₁,y₁) and D(-1,-2) as (x₂,y₂)

$\begin{gathered} d_{CD}=\sqrt[]{(2-(-1))^2+((-1)-(-2))}^2 \\ d_{CD}=\sqrt[]{(2+1)^2+(-1+2)^2} \\ d_{CD}=\sqrt[]{3^2+1^2} \\ d_{CD}=\sqrt[]{9+1} \\ d_{CD}=\sqrt[]{10} \end{gathered}$

The length of CD is √10 units ≈ 3.16 units