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+2
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I don't understand. I'm doing the distance formula for P1=(5,-2)  P2=(4,5) and I get sqrt50 as the answer which they say is in the wrong form? The example is that P1=(4,-3)  P2=(2,5)=sqrt68=2sqrt17... So how do I get a similar answer with sqrt50? Every time I plug it in the calculator I get the answer 7.071.......

 Oct 8, 2017
 #1
avatar+9466 
+2

You are right that the distance between the points is  = √50

 

To simplify this, we can split 50 into its prime factors. So we get...

 

√50   =   √[ 2 * 5 * 5 ]

 

And...

 

√[ 2 * 5 * 5 ]    =    √2 * √[5 * 5]    =    √2 * √52    =    √2 * 5    =    5√2    smiley

 Oct 8, 2017

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