Question

select the correct answer from each drop-down menu.
jamal is finding the length, d, of the line segment. his work so far is shown. what is jamals next step?
image of a coordinate plane with two points (x₁,y₁) and (x₂,y₂) and a line segment between them
jamal should find the length of each leg drop-down menu by drop-down menu with options: subtracting the x-coordinates and y-coordinates, squaring the x-coordinates and y-coordinates, adding the x-coordinates and y-coordinates

Explanation:

Step1: Recall distance formula

To find the length of a line segment between two points \((x_1,y_1)\) and \((x_2,y_2)\) using the Pythagorean theorem (distance formula derivation), we first need to find the horizontal and vertical distances (lengths of the legs of the right triangle formed).

Step2: Determine how to find leg lengths

The length of the horizontal leg (along the x - axis) is found by subtracting the x - coordinates (\(x_2 - x_1\) or \(x_1 - x_2\)) and the length of the vertical leg (along the y - axis) is found by subtracting the y - coordinates (\(y_2 - y_1\) or \(y_1 - y_2\)). Squaring the coordinates is done after finding the differences, and adding the coordinates does not give the length of the legs. So the next step is subtracting the x - coordinates and y - coordinates.

Answer:

subtracting the x - coordinates and y - coordinates