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Using distance between two points and the Pythagorean Theorem

http://www.mapsofworld.com/usa/ Youve applied for and received a National Geographic Traveler scholarship that allows you to travel to one of four regions of the USA over the summer as an intern. Your friends and family have lots of questions for you, but the one that keeps recurring is how far away is (fill in the name of location)?. You havent thought about this before, but based on what weve just learned, youre pretty sure there is a way to figure it out mathematically. Lets apply what we know about the Pythagorean Theorem to help find the distance from Des Moines to your destination. 1. Pick a starting point on the map that represents where you live. City: _______________ 2. Select the city you would like to visit from the region youve been assigned. Direction: ________________ City: ____________________ 3. Create a right triangle with the hypotenuse as the distance between your starting and ending point, the base going in the east-west direction, and the height going in the northsouth direction. 4. Transfer the triangle to grid paper and label the end points A, B, and C, aligning one of the points with the origin. Find the coordinates of A, B, and C. 5. Using the grid marks as units, find the length of the base and height of the triangle. Show your work: Base: Height:

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6. Use the Pythagorean Theorem to find the length of the hypotenuse. Convert your answer to miles. Show your work:

Answer: ________________ miles (1 unit = 200 miles)

7. Write the formula for finding distance between two points: _______________________

Practice Problems
Find the distance between points M and N. Approximate the answer to two decimal places. Then, verify that your answer is correct by sketching the triangle and finding the length of the hypotenuse.

8. M = (2, 7), N = (6, 10)

9. M = (0, 3), N = (5,9)

Extension From question #6, convert the units of length to determine the distance from your start to your end point. (1 unit = 200 miles). The National Geographic has decided to relocate you half way through the summer so that you can experience a different region. You get to choose, but the second location cannot be closer to your starting point (for example, if you went SE the first time, you will go NE or SW) and should be about half as far as your first distance. 1. Using a ruler or map scale provided, locate the next city you would like to visit that is approximately half distance from your home to the first location. Label this city, point D. 2. Name of city: 3. By combining the two triangles into one, find the total distance of your summer traveling, from start to end. Show your work below: