Flash MX 2004 Games : Art to ActionScript

Chapter 8: In tip-top condition
Within the function we use these values to get the distance between the points along each axis, using
x = x1 - x2;
y = y1 - y2;
Now if you are being extra smart, you will realize that if x2 ory2 are greater than x1 and y1
respectively, both x and y could take negative values. How do we handle this case? The fact is
that in the function we make use of the square of these values and a square can never be negative.
If we multiply a positive or negative number by itself then we get a positive value. For example:
//-2 * -2 = 4 not -4
A function can return a value; to do this we use the keyword return. In this example we
also use the square root function that is part of the Math object. The square root function takes a
single parameter and returns the square root of this parameter. In this instance we are interested in
the sum of the two squares.
Now we can make use of this function to test the distance between two points:
if (distanceBetween(100, 200, clip._x, clip_y)