Geometry: Finding the Distance between Two Points of the Hypotenuse

Objectives:

• Students will review finding the distance between two points.

• Students will review the Pythagorean Theorem.

• Students will use the Pythagorean Theorem to find the distance between the two points of the hypotenuse.

• Students will practice these skills in their independent work.

Suggested Grades:

Seventh Grade - Eighth Grade - Ninth Grade - Tenth Grade - including Special Education students

Lesson Procedure:

Print the classroom lesson plan and worksheet questions (see below).

Lesson Excerpt:

Introduction
In our last lesson, we learned how to find the distance between two points on a number line and on a coordinate grid. Today, we are going to continue with this work, but first, let's review what we learned in our lesson.

When we are looking for the distance between two points on a number line, we are looking for the number of units that there are between the two points. To determine this, we use the following formula.

formula

The A and the B in this formula could stand for any two points on a number line. When we take the absolute value of the difference between the two points, we have the number of units between those two points. That number of units is the distance that we are looking for. Let's look at an example.

Continued...