Let's put the three points on the coordinate plane and draw a line k through the two given points. Next we draw a line through the third point that is perpendicular to line k. The distance of the point from the line can be measured along this perpendicular line.
Here is the plan we will follow to find the distance.
We first find the equation of line k.
Next we find the equation of the perpendicular line.
Using the two equations, we can find the point of intersection.
The distance of point (-4,0) and this intersection point is the distance of point (-4,0) from line k.
Let's now see the details.
Equation of Line k
To find the equation of line k, we first use the Slope Formula to find its slope.
m=x2−x1y2−y1
We can substitute the coordinates of the given points (4,1) and (-5,-5), and simplify the expression to find the slope.
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