What is the distance between (1, 2) and (4, 6)?

What is the distance between (1, 2) and (4, 6)?

• A. 3
• B. 4
• C. 5
• D. 6

Answer: (C)

Distance between two points is found by the distance formula, which comes from the Pythagorean theorem: the straight-line distance equals the square root of the sum of the squares of the horizontal and vertical differences. The horizontal difference is 4 minus 1, which is 3. The vertical difference is 6 minus 2, which is 4. So the distance is sqrt(3^2 + 4^2) = sqrt(9 + 16) = sqrt(25) = 5. So the distance is 5, the length of the hypotenuse in a 3-4-5 triangle.

Distance between two points is found by the distance formula, which comes from the Pythagorean theorem: the straight-line distance equals the square root of the sum of the squares of the horizontal and vertical differences.

The horizontal difference is 4 minus 1, which is 3. The vertical difference is 6 minus 2, which is 4. So the distance is sqrt(3^2 + 4^2) = sqrt(9 + 16) = sqrt(25) = 5.

So the distance is 5, the length of the hypotenuse in a 3-4-5 triangle.