<u>It doesn't matter what order the coordinates are in the distance formula as long as it stays in it's corresponding order.</u> In this case, (-7,5) could be (x1,y1) and (3,-5) could be (x2,y2) or vise versa, just as long as you don't mix up the coordinates (so no (-7,-5) or (3,5)). I'll demonstrate this below:
<u>The distance between these points, no matter the order, is √200, or approximately 14.14 units.</u>