distance

(noun)

The amount of space between two points, measured along a straight line

Related Terms

  • Pythagorean Theorem
  • midpoint

Examples of distance in the following topics:

  • The Distance Between Two Lines

  • The Distance Formula and Midpoints of Segments

    • The distance and the midpoint formulas give us the tools to find important information about two points.
    • In analytic geometry, the distance between two points of the $xy$-plane can be found using the distance formula.  
    • The distance can be from two points on a line or from two points on a line segment.  
    • The distance between points $(x_{1},y_{1})$ and $(x_{2},y_{2})$ is given by the formula:
    • Calculate the midpoint of a line segment and the distance between two points on a plane
  • Absolute Value

    • Absolute value can be thought of as the distance of a real number from zero.
    • It refers to the distance of $a$ from zero.
    • For example, the absolute value of 5 is 5, and the absolute value of −5 is also 5, because both numbers are the same distance from 0.
    • When applied to the difference between real numbers, the absolute value represents the distance between the numbers on a number line.
    • Absolute value is closely related to the mathematical and physical concepts of magnitude, distance, and norm.
  • Introduction to Circles

    • The equation for a circle is just an extension of the distance formula.
    • This definition is what gives us the concept of the radius of a circle, which is exactly that certain distance.
    • According to the distance formula, the distance c from the point (a,b) to any other point (x, y) is
    • Remember that the distance between the center (a,b) and any point (x,y) on the circle is that fixed distance, which is called the radius.
    • Notice that all we have done is slightly rearrange the distance formula equation.
  • Eccentricity

    • The orange lines denote the distance between the focus and points on the conic section, as well as the distance between the same points and the directrix.
    • These are the distances used to find the eccentricity.
    • In other words, the distance between a point on a conic section and its focus is less than the distance between that point and the nearest directrix.
    • This indicates that the distance between a point on a conic section the nearest directrix is less than the distance between that point and the focus.
    • Examples of these distances are shown.
  • What Are Conic Sections?

    • The distance of a directrix from a point on the conic section has a constant ratio to the distance from that point to the focus.
    • A conic section is the locus of points $P$ whose distance to the focus is a constant multiple of the distance from $P$ to the directrix of the conic.
    • A parabola is the set of all points whose distance from a fixed point, called the focus, is equal to the distance from a fixed line, called the directrix.
    • The difference of the distances from any point on the ellipse to the foci is constant.
    • The sum of the distances from any point on the ellipse to the foci is constant.
  • Introduction to Hyperbolas

    • We want the set of all points that have the same difference between the distances to these points.
    • Then the difference of distances between $P$ and the two focal points is:
    • where $a$ is the distance from the center (origin) to the vertices of the hyperbola.
    • With this value for the difference of distances, we can choose any point $(x,y)$ on the hyperbola and construct an equation by use of the distance formula.
    • The ellipse can be defined as all points that have a constant sum of distances to two focal points, and the hyperbola is defined as all points that have constant difference of distances to two focal points.
  • Ellipses

    • An ellipse, which resembles an oval, is defined as all points whose distance from two foci add to a constant.
    • An ellipse has the property that, at any point on its perimeter, the distance from two fixed points (the foci) add to the same constant.
    • The pen will touch every point on the cardboard such that the distance to one thumbtack, plus the distance to the other thumbtack, is exactly one string length.
    • The cardboard is the "plane" in our definition, the thumbtacks are the "foci," and the string length is the "constant distance."
    • The sum of the distances from any point P on the ellipse to those two foci is constant and equal to the major axis ( PF1 + PF2 = 2a ).
  • The Cartesian System

    • The Cartesian coordinate system is used to specify points on a graph by showing their absolute distances from two axes.
    • A Cartesian coordinate system specifies each point uniquely in a plane by a pair of numerical coordinates, which are the signed distances from the point to the two axes.
    • Each point can be represented by an ordered pair $(x,y) $, where the                   x-coordinate is the point's distance from the y-axis, and the y-coordinate is the distance from the x-axis.
  • Standard Equations of Hyperbolas

    • At large distances from the center, the hyperbola approaches two lines, its asymptotes, which intersect at the hyperbola's center.
    • A hyperbola approaches its asymptotes arbitrarily closely as the distance from its center increases, but it never intersects them.
    • The distance b (not shown in below) is the length of the perpendicular segment from either vertex to the asymptotes.
    • The eccentricity e equals the ratio of the distances from a point P on the hyperbola to one focus and its corresponding directrix line (shown in green).
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