S3 Topic 4

Distance between two points 

Level: Key Stage 3

Dimension: Measures, Shape and Space

Module: Learning Geometry through an Analytical Approach
Unit: Coordinate Geometry of Straight Lines

Student ability: Average

Content Objectives:

After completing the activity, students should be able to

 gain further practice to find the distance between two points using Pythagoras’
Theorem’
 derive the Distance formula, and
 calculate the distance between two points by using the formula.

Language Objectives:

After completing the activity, students should be able to

 understand and use the key English terms (e.g., distance, rectangular coordinates,
Pythagoras’ Theorem, right-angled triangle, and surd) for explaining how to
calculate the distance between two points,
 state in English the coordinates of point, using the sentence pattern: The coordinates
of __ are (__, __).
 answer in English the questions of “What is the distance between point __ and point
__?” by using the sentence pattern: The distance between point __ and point __ is
__.
State in English the distance formula: The distance between two points with

coordinates  x1 , y1  and x 2 , y 2  equals to x 2  x1 2   y1  y 2 2
 follow English instructions on solving problems concerning this topic and work on
related problems written in English.

Material required: geometry software such as GeoGebra or Sketchpad

S3 Topic 4: Distance between Two Points    1 
Prerequisite knowledge:

Students should have gained an understanding through the medium of Chinese and an ability
to use the rectangular coordinate systems to describe the positions of points in a plane and be
able to locate a point in a plane by means of an ordered pair in the rectangular coordinate
system.

Time: 2 lessons (2 x 40 minutes)

Procedure:

Lesson 1

1. The teacher should set up the computer and projector to show the rectangular coordinate
plane on the board.
2. The teacher should then distribute the worksheet to students.
3. The teacher then introduces the terms to be used (Table 1).
4. The teacher should then discuss with the students how to read the coordinates of points P,
Q, R, S and T (Question 1).
5. The teacher then shows students how to plot different lines on the coordinate plane and
find the distance between points with the same x- or y- coordinates (Question 2).
6. The teacher should then remind students of what they have learnt before about
Pythagoras’ Theorem. Then, the teacher can ask students to complete Question 3.
7. The teacher should then ask students to report and explain what they have done in
Question 3.
8. Finally, students should be asked to complete Exercise I and II as class exercises to check
that they can find the distance between two points using Pythagoras’ Theorem.

Lesson 2
1. The teacher should ask students to complete Question 4 in 5-8 minutes.
2. The teacher then asks the students to present and explain what they have done and
discovered in Question 4.
3. The teacher should then ask the students to complete Question 5 after which the teacher
can explain to students that the result (distance) is the same even though they use the
coordinates of point 1 minus those of point 2, or vice versa.

S3 Topic 4: Distance between Two Points    2 
4. The teacher should finally ask students to finish Exercise III.

Explanatory Notes for Teachers:

1. Usually, teachers will add extended learning activities (ELA) at the very end of a

sequence of teaching when students have gained a certain understanding of the topic.

Actually, we can also select some small, independent and easier units and use English

only to teach these units at any time. The unit “Distance between two points” was

selected because it is an independent not dependent upon other content topics. At the

same time, as students have some previous knowledge about coordinate planes and

Pythagoras’ Theorem, the topic should be relatively easy to understand in English.

2. The use of visual tools (e.g. the projector, the graph software) can facilitate student

learning and help the students to follow the teacher’s explanations. The software can help

teachers to show the points and lines more flexibly but the PowerPoint file provided can

be a substitute if the software is not available. Teachers can also use the diagrams in the

worksheet for the same purpose.

3. The distance formula relates to two items of prerequisite knowledge, i.e. the rectangular

coordinate plane and Pythagoras’ Theorem. The teacher should link up students’ past

learning experience with the new knowledge.

4. The teacher should emphasize that the formula could be derived by students themselves.

Compared with the learning of formulae which only involves memorization, this could

increase students’ confidence.

S3 Topic 4: Distance between Two Points    3 
 S3 Mathematics
Coordinate Geometry
Distance between two points

Name: ______________ Class: __________ ( )

Vocabulary (Table 1):

distance 距離 rectangular coordinates 直角坐標
Pythagoras’ Theorem 畢氏定理 right-angled triangle 直角三角形
Surd 不盡根

Question 1:
In a rectangular coordinate plane (Fig 1):

What are the coordinates of points P, Q, R, S and T?

The coordinates of point P y

are ( _____, _____ ).

The coordinates of point Q

are ( _____, _____ ).

x
The coordinates of point R

are ( _____, _____ ).

The coordinates of point S Fig. 1

are ( _____, _____ ).

The coordinates of point T

are ( _____, _____ ).

S3 Topic 4: Distance between Two Points    4 
Question 2:
In Figure 2, y

a) What is the distance between

point P and point X?

The distance between point P

and point X is:

   
=________. x

b) What is the distance between

Fig. 2
point Q and point Y?

The distance between point Q and point Y is:

     = __________________.

c) What is the distance between point R and point Z?

The distance between point R and point Z is:      =_____________.

S3 Topic 4: Distance between Two Points    5 
Question 3:
y
In Figure 3,
a) What are the coordinates of C?
(5,4)
The ______________________

of C are ( _____, _____ ).

b) Find the length of AC and BC.

AC = (1, 1)
x

BC =
Fig. 3

c) △ABC is a _______________________ triangle.

d) We can use __________________ Theorem to find the length of AB.

AB =   2

2

S3 Topic 4: Distance between Two Points    6 
Exercise I:
(Express your answer in surd form if necessary.)

Find the distance between A and B.

y

B(1, 4)

A(-4, 2)

Exercise II:
(Express your answer in surd form if necessary.)
y
Find the distance between C and D. C

(3, 1)

S3 Topic 4: Distance between Two Points    7 
Question 4:
In Figure 4, how can we find the distance between P and Q?

a) What are the coordinates of R?

The _____________________

are ( _____, _____ ).

(x2, y2)
b) Similar to Question 3,
PR =

QR=
(x1, y1)
PQ=

0 Fig. 4

∴ The distance between two points with coordinates  x1 , y1  and x 2 , y 2  is:

S3 Topic 4: Distance between Two Points    8 
Question 5:
In Figure 5, how can we find the distance between P and Q?

a) What are the coordinates of R?

The _____________________

are ( _____, _____ ).

(x1, y1)
b) Similar to Question 4,
PR =

QR= (x2, y2)

R

PQ=

Fig. 5

∴ The distance between two points with coordinates x1, y1  and x 2 , y 2  is:

Comparing the results of Question 4 and Question 5, we can find that the distance

between P(x1, y1) and Q(x2, y2) is given by ______________________________. This is

called the “distance formula”.

S3 Topic 4: Distance between Two Points    9 
Exercise III:

y
a) Use the distance formula to find AB.

AB =

b) Use the distance formula to find CD.

CD =

c) Use the distance formula to find the distance between P (-8, -5) and Q (-3, -3).

d) Use the distance formula to find the distance between R (-5, 4) and S (-1, -2).

e) If the coordinates of A, B and C are (5,4) , (-1, 2) and (3,-2) respectively, find the
perimeter (周界) of triangle ABC.

S3 Topic 4: Distance between Two Points    10 
 Answers

y
1. The coordinates of point P
are ( 1 , 5 ).

The coordinates of point Q

are ( __6___, __3___ ).

x
The coordinates of point R
are ( __3___, __−2__ )

The coordinates of point S

are ( __−2___, __−1___ ).

The coordinates of point T

are ( __−1___, __3___ ).

S3 Topic 4: Distance between Two Points    11 
2. In Figure 2:

a) What is the distance between point

P and point X?

The distance between point P and

point X is:

(6) – (1)
x
=___5_____.

b) What is the distance between point

Fig. 2
Q and point Y?

The distance between point Q and point Y is:

(3) – (1) = __4_____.

c) What is the distance between point R and point Z?

The distance between point R and point Z is: (3) – (2) =_____5________.

S3 Topic 4: Distance between Two Points    12 
3. In Figure 3: y
a) What are the coordinates of C?
The ______coordinates_____

of C are ( __5___, __1___ ).

b) Find the length of AC and BC.

AC = 4 − 1
=3
x

BC = 5 − 1
=4

Fig. 3

c) △ABC is a __right-angled_____________ triangle.

d) We can use __Pythagoras’________ Theorem to find the length of AB.

AB = 32  4 2

= 9  16

= 5 (units)

S3 Topic 4: Distance between Two Points    13 
 y
Exercise I:

Find the distance between A and B.

AB = 2 2
 52 
= 29
x

Exercise II: y

Find the distance between C and D.

CD = 42  22

= 20

= 2 5 x

S3 Topic 4: Distance between Two Points    14 
4. In figure 4, how can we find the distance between P and Q?
a) What are the coordinates of R?
The coordinates of R

are ( x 2 , y1 ).
b) Similar to question 3,
(x2, y2)
PR = y2  y1

QR= x2  x1

PQ= x 2  x 1 2  y 2  y1 2 (x1, y1)

Fig. 4

∴ The distance between two points with coordinates x1, y1  and x 2 , y 2  is:

x 2  x 1 2  y 2  y1 2

S3 Topic 4: Distance between Two Points    15 
5. In figure 5, how can we find the distance between P and Q?

a) What are the coordinates of

R?
The coordinates of R are

( x1, y2 ).
(x1, y1)

b) Similar to question 4,
PR = y1  y 2
(x2, y2)
QR = x 2  x1 R

PQ

= x 2  x 1 2  y1  y 2 2
Fig. 5

∴ The distance between two points with coordinates x1, y1  and x 2 , y 2  is:

x 2  x 1 2  y1  y 2 2

Comparing the results of question 4 and question 5, we can find that the distance between

P(x1, y1) and Q(x2, y2) is given by x 2  x 1 2  y 2  y1 2 .

This formula is called the “distance formula”.

S3 Topic 4: Distance between Two Points    16 
Exercise III:

a) Use the distance formula to find AB. y

AB =  3  12   1  32

=  4 2   4 2

= 32 x

= 4 2

b) Use the distance formula to find CD.

CD = 1   32   1  32

4 2   4 
2
=

= 32

= 4 2

c) Find the distance between P (-8, -5) and Q (-3, -3).

PQ = x 2  x1 2   y 2  y1 2

=  3   82   3   52

= 52  2 2

= 29

d) Find the distance between R (-5, 4) and S (-1, -2).

RS =  1   52  (2  4) 2

S3 Topic 4: Distance between Two Points    17 
 = 42  62

= 52 = 2 13

e) If the coordinates of A, B and C are (5,4) , (-1, 2) and (3,-2) respectively, find the
perimeter (周界) of triangle ABC.

PQ = 5  (1)2  4  22

= 2 10 (units)

QR= 2  (2)2   1  32

= 4 2 (units)

RP= 4  (2)2  5  32

= 2 10 (units)

The perimeter of triangle ABC = 2 10 + 4 2 + 2 10 (units)

= 4( 10  2 ) (units)

S3 Topic 4: Distance between Two Points    18