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The Pythagorean Theorem - Educational Outreach

The Pythagorean Theorem - Educational Outreach

The Pythagorean Theorem - Educational Outreach

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Our last topic in Section 3.4 addresses the famousDistance Formula, a far-reaching result that is a directconsequence of the <strong>Pythagorean</strong> <strong>The</strong>orem. <strong>The</strong> DistanceFormula—an alternate formulation of the <strong>Pythagorean</strong><strong>The</strong>orem in analytic-geometry form—permeates all of basicand advanced mathematics due to its fundamental utility.y( x2,y2,z2)zDC( x2 , y2, z1)B( x1,y1,z1)A( x2 , y1,z1)xFigure 3.5: Three-Dimensional Distance Formula<strong>The</strong>orem: Let ( x1,y1,z1)and ( x2,y2,z2) be two points inthree-dimensional Cartesian coordinate space as shown inFigure 3.5. Let D be the straight-line distance betweenthe two points. <strong>The</strong>n the distance D is given byProof:D ( xz .DD22D 2222 x1) ( y2 y1) ( z21)2 2 2 A B C 2 ( x x) ( y y)2( x21x)122 ( y21y)122 ( z2 ( z2z)112z)2100

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