COLLEGE PREP ~ Section 10.1/10.

2: Distance & Midpoint Formulas, and Circ les

Objectives:
 Use the Distance Formula.
 Use the Midpoint Formula.
 Write the Standard Form of the Equation of a Circle.
 Graph a Circle.
 Find the Center and Radius of a Circle from an Equation in General Form.

The Distance Formula

The distance between two points and , is

This formula is found by graphing the points on a Cartesian coordinate plane, then making a right triangle and using the
Pythagorean Theorem.

Examples: Find the distance between the two points.

A) Plug the values into the equation (making sure you pay attention to
negatives!).

B)

C) Consider the three points

a) Plot the points on a coordinate plane and make the triangle ABC.
b) Find the length of each side of the triangle.
c) Verify the triangle is a right triangle. (Hint: use the Pythagorean Theorem)
d) Find the area of the triangle.

Answer: a) not shown here.

b)

c) Use the Pythagorean theorem to check to see if it’s a right triangle. If the equation
is true, it’s a right triangle. Remember!! is the hypotenuse, so always use the
longest side for when plugging in values.
So it is a right triangle.
d) The area of a triangle is . Since our two sides are the same length, then .
So…
The Midpoint Formula:
The midpoint of the line segment from to is

Examples: Find the midpoint of the line segment joining the two points.
D)

CIRCLE Definitions:
A circle is the set of all points in the Cartesian plane that are a fixed distance from a fixed point
is called the radius. is called the center.

The standard form of an equation of a circle is

Note that since both the and the are inside parentheses, we must change the signs of BOTH of them when
finding the vertex point

Examples: Write the standard form of the equation of the circle with the following:
E) Plug in the values for h, k, and r. Don’t forget to square the r-value!

F)

G)

H) Center at (-2, 3) and tangent to the x-axis. Note: “tangent to” means that the edge of the circle
touches the x-axis. So we can find the radius by taking
the absolute value of our value, since that’s the distance from
the center of the circle to the x-axis. Therefore,
I) With endpoints of a diameter at and The radius is ½ the diameter, so we need to find
the length of the segment and cut it in half. The
center of the circle will lie at the midpoint of
so the diameter.

Graphing a Circle:
Step 1: Identify the center and the radius in the equation.
Step 2: Plot the center point. From that point, go the number of units in the radius to the right and plot another point.
Plot three more points beginning at the center and going up, down, and left.
Step 3: Connect the 4 outside points with even arcs to form the circle.

Examples: Graph the equations.

J)

Plot the center point. 4 units in each direction give

you points at (1, 2), (-3, 6), (-7, 2), and (-3, -2).

K)

Plot the center point. 4 units in each direction give

you points at (12, 0), (6, 6), (0, 0), and (6, -6).

Homework: Page 778: # 7, 11, 17, 19, 23, 25, 27, 35, 39
AND Page 784: #9, 11, 15, 17, 21, 23, 25, 27, 33, 41, 43, 45