Tuesday, May 13, 2008

9.5 Distance in Coordinate Geometry

We looked at the coordinate plane, and refreshed our memories on what the (x,y) coordinates mean. Then we looked at the line between two points (a,b) and (c,d), then we used a right triangle to derive the distance formula. Once students had the distance formula and saw it in action a couple times they seamed to be able to use it.

One other aspect of this chapter was the equation of a circle. Students liked this, and it worked well because they got to see how shapes can be shifted and moved in the coordinate plane. Exciting!

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