Family Math Studio
Lesson 7.66.NOS.9
Determine Distance on the Coordinate Plane
Find the distance between two points on the coordinate plane.
NameDate
Tonight's spark
A city bus map uses a grid. Two stops sit on the same street: one at (−3, 2) and one at (4, 2). Each square is one block. How many blocks apart are the stops?
Guess first: are the stops more than 4 blocks apart, or fewer?
Try it
Work it out on paper. Write one answer on each line.
Which coordinates are the same in (2, 5) and (9, 5)?
- A. The x-coordinates
- B. The y-coordinates
- C. Both
- D. Neither
My answer
Find the distance between (1, 3) and (6, 3).
- A. 5
- B. 7
- C. 18
- D. 3
My answer
What is |−4| + |3|?
- A. −1
- B. 1
- C. 7
- D. 12
My answer
Find the distance between (−2, 4) and (5, 4).
- A. 3
- B. 5
- C. 2
- D. 7
My answer
Find the distance between (6, −3) and (6, −9).
- A. 12
- B. 6
- C. −6
- D. 3
My answer
Find the distance between (4, −5) and (4, 3).
- A. 8
- B. 2
- C. 5
- D. 3
My answer
Talk about it
Which coordinate is the same? Are the other coordinates on the same side of 0 or opposite sides?
Home mission
Pick one floor tile as (0, 0). Stand 3 tiles left of it. Have your student stand 4 tiles right of it, on the same row. Ask: how many tiles apart are you? Add or subtract? Why?
If we get stuck, ask
- Are the two points on the same side of zero, or opposite sides?
- How far is each number from zero? Let's find both absolute values.
- Do the points share a row or a column? That tells us which numbers to use.