Math 303B – Mrs.

Rivas
15.1 Distance and Slope in the Coordinate Plane

The Coordinate Plane

Your study of geometry thus far has been without the use of coordinates; that is, you have drawn sketches of
shapes, without specifying their location in the plane. The coordinate plane is a two-dimensional surface on
which we can plot points, draw lines and polygons. Every point in the plane can be named using a pair of
coordinates that are referenced to two axes: the x-axis and y-axis. These are the horizontal and vertical
distances of the point from a specific location called the origin. The coordinates of the origin are (0, 0).

Ex 1: Give the coordinates of each point.

5
C
4 A ___________
3
D B ___________
2
A 1 B C ___________
-5 -4 -3 -2 -1 1 2 3 4 5 D ___________
-1
E
-2
E ___________
-3 F
-4 F ___________
-5

Distance
We can use the coordinate plane to find distances between points using coordinates.

Ex 2: Find the distance between the following points from the previous example.

a) A and B b) A and C

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 Math 303B – Mrs. Rivas
c) Consider points P  x1 , y1  and Q  x2 , y2  . What is the distance between points P and Q?

The Distance Formula

If P is the point  x1 , y1  and Q is the point  x2 , y2  , the distance from P to Q is

d) Find the distance between points E and F using the distance formula.

Collinearity Test
Points P, Q and R are collinear with Q between P and R if and only if

The length of PQ plus the length of QR is equal to the length of PR.

R
P Q

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 Math 303B – Mrs. Rivas
Ex 3: Are the following points collinear? A (-5, -4), B (-2, -2), C (4, 2). Show using a graphing approach AND
using the collinearity test.

6
5
4
3
2
1
-6 -5 -4 -3 -2 -1 1 2 3 4 5 6
-1
-2
-3
-4
-5
-6

Midpoint Formula
Consider P (2, 7) and Q (6, 3). Find the midpoint of PQ.

7
6
5
4
3
2
1

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Midpoint Formula
If P is the point  x1 , y1  and Q is the point  x2 , y2  , the midpoint, M of PQ is the point

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Ex 4: Find the coordinates of the midpoints of segment AB where A is (-6, 4) and B is (0, 8).

Ex 5: M is the midpoint of TS. T is (4, 5) and M is (-5, -3). Find the coordinates of S.

Slope
The slope of any non-vertical line is the ratio of the vertical change (called the rise) to the horizontal change
(called the run) between two points on the line.

School

House

Slope of a Line
Suppose that P is the point  x1 , y1  and Q is the point  x2 , y2  . The slope of the line

PQ is the ratio provided x1  x2 .

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 Math 303B – Mrs. Rivas
Ex 6: Find the slope of the following lines: line l contains the points A (2, 5) and B (10, 5) and line m contains
the points C (6, 8) and D (6, 15).

Slope and Collinearity

6
5
Find the slope of the following line. 4
3
2
1
-6 -5 -4 -3 -2 -1 1 2 3 4 5 6
-1
-2
Now choose another pair of points on the same line and find the slope -3
between those two points. What do you notice? -4
-5
-6

Slope and Collinearity

Points P, Q and R are collinear if and only if

1. the slope of PQ and QR are ____________________, or

2. the slopes of PQ and QR are _____________________________________.

Ex 7: Using slopes, determine if the following points are collinear. A (-4, 6), B (5, 2), C (0, -6)

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 Math 303B – Mrs. Rivas
Slopes of Parallel Lines 6
5
Find the slope of the following line. 4
3
2
1
-6 -5 -4 -3 -2 -1 1 2 3 4 5 6
Now draw two more lines with the same slope. What do you notice about -1
these three lines? -2
-3
-4
-5
-6
Slopes of Parallel Lines
Two lines in the coordinate plane are parallel if and only if

1. their slopes are ________________________, or

2. their slopes are _____________________________________.

Slopes of Perpendicular Lines

Slopes of Perpendicular Lines

Two lines in the coordinate plane are perpendicular if and only if

1. the product of their slopes is __________, or

2. one line is horizontal and the other line is vertical.

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 Math 303B – Mrs. Rivas
Ex 8: Is the following quadrilateral a square, a rhombus, a rectangle or a parallelogram?

A (-2, 4), B (2, 3), C (1, 0), D (-3, 1)

6
5
4
3
2
1
-6 -5 -4 -3 -2 -1 1 2 3 4 5 6
-1
-2
-3
-4
-5
-6

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 Math 303B – Mrs. Rivas
15.2 Equations and Coordinates
In this section, you will investigate the relationship between the equation of a line and its graph. These
connections show how geometry and algebra are related.

Equations of Lines
Consider the equation y  2 x  1

● To create a graph of this equation, you can find points in the form (x, y) that make the equation true. For
each of the points below, the x-coordinate is given. By substituting x into the equation, find the
corresponding y-coordinate.
6
5
x y  2x  1 y (x, y) 4
-3 y = 2(-3) + 1 = -6 + 1 -5 (-3, -5) 3
2
-2
1
-1
-6 -5 -4 -3 -2 -1 1 2 3 4 5 6
0 -1
-2
1
-3
2 -4
-5
-6
● Plot all the points. What type of graph do you get as a result of connecting these points?

● What is the slope of the line? Does this number appear in the equation? Where?

● What are the coordinates of the point where the line crosses the y-axis? The y-coordinate of this point is
called the y-intercept. How is this point related to the equation of the line?

Slope-Intercept Equation of a Line

Every line in the plane has an equation of the form ________________________________ where

m represents ___________________________ and b represents _______________________________

of the line.
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 Math 303B – Mrs. Rivas
Ex 1: Find the slope and y-intercept and then graph each line.

1
6
a) y   x  3 5
2
4
3
2
1
-6 -5 -4 -3 -2 -1 1 2 3 4 5 6
-1
b) y  1
-2
-3
-4
-5
-6

c) x  4

Point-Slope Equation of a Line

If a line contains the point  x1 , y1  and has slope m, then the point slope equation of
the line is

To write the equation of a line we need two things,

1. ___________________ 2. ___________________

Ex 2: Write the equation of each line that satisfies the following:

a) Slope = -3, y-intercept (0, 5) b) Horizontal and passes through (-3, 6)

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 Math 303B – Mrs. Rivas
c) Passes through the points (-4, 8) and (3, -6)

d) Passes through the point (5, -1) and is parallel to the line y  2 x  3 .

2
e) Passes through the point (6, 0) and is perpendicular to the line y  x  1.
3

f) A rental company charges you a base fee of $50 to rent their truck plus $0.50 per mile. Write an equation
that represents the total amount in terms of the number of miles driven.

Solutions of Simultaneous Equations

A system of equations is a set of two or more equations, involving two or more variables. The solution is a pair
of numbers (x, y) for which both equations are true.
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 Math 303B – Mrs. Rivas
Method 1: Graphing
Ex 3: Solve the following systems of equations by graphing.

y  x 1
3y  2x  6

a)
12 y  8 x  24

y  x  3

b) 3x  y  5
y  3 x  2

c) 3 y  2x  6
12 y  8 x  24

When we solve a system of two linear equations, one of the following outcomes will occur:

● The lines intersect at exactly ONE point  ________________________________________________

● The lines are parallel, so they NEVER intersect  ___________________________________________

● The lines have the same equations, so they intersect at EVERY point  _________________________

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 Math 303B – Mrs. Rivas
Method 2: Substitution
Use this method when one variable is isolated, or it is easy to solve for it. That is, when we have x or y alone, or
when the coefficient of x or y is 1.

Ex 4: Solve the system of equations using the substitution method.

a) y  3 x  13 b) x  3y  6
4 x  5 y  11 3x  4 y  4

Method 3: Elimination
Use this method when the coefficients of the x’s or the coefficients of the y’s are opposites (i.e. 2x and -2x).
Remember that our goal is to get rid of one variable. What happens when we add opposite numbers?

Ex 5: Solve the system of equations using the elimination method.

a) 4 x  2 y  16 b) 2 x  3 y  2
2 x  2 y  8 4x  6 y  4

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 Math 303B – Mrs. Rivas
Equations of Circles
Circles also have equations that can be determined using the distance formula. Recall that a circle is the set of
point that are a fixed distance (the radius) from the center of the circle.

(x, y)
r Point on
the circle
(a, b)
Center

Equation of a Circle

The circle with center (a, b) and radius r has the equation

Ex 6: Find the equation of the following circle

a) Center (-3, 2), radius = 4

b) Center (3, -4) and passes through (2, -6)

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 Math 303B – Mrs. Rivas
c) (-2, -1) and (6, -3) are the endpoints of a diameter.

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