Question

If the distance between points (x, 0) and (0, 3) is 5, what are the values of x?

Answer 1

We have to find the unknown x using the distance between A (x, 0) and B (0, 3) which is 5.

In general, the distance between `A(x_1, x_2)` and `B(x_2, y_2)` is given by,

`AB = sqrt((x_2 - x_1)^2 + (y_2 - y_1)^2)`

So,

`5 = sqrt((x - 0)^2 + (0 - 3)^2)`

Squaring both the sides we get,

`x^2 - 16 = 0`

So,

`x = +- 4`