SOLUTIONS TO MATHEMATICS 17 EXERCISES

The Two-Dimensional Coordinate System and Graphs of Linear Equations

uploaded 2016 September 16
We have the following problems:
1. Given A(4, 2), B(6, 4), and C(2, 7), find the distance between C and the midpoint
M of AB.
Here, we need the midpoint of AB, which is simply the average of the x- and ycoordinates of A and B:
!
4 + 6 2 + (4))
,
M=
2
2
= (5, 1)
Next, we want the distance between this point M and C(2, 7). We need here our
distance formula for two points P (x1 , y1 ) and Q(x2 , y2 ):
p
d(P Q) = (x2 x1 )2 + (y2 y1 )2
Here, the order of x1 and x2 doesnt really matter; same for y1 and y2 . As long as we
are taking the difference in x-coordinates and y-coordinates in our formula, were fine.
And therefore
p
d(CM ) = (5 2)2 + (1 (7))2

= 9 + 36 = 3 5

Thus, the answer we desire is 3 5 units.

2. Using the distance formula, find all points whose x-coordinates are 4 or 4, and whose
distance from the origin is 5.
We do the solution for those points whose x-coordinate is 4. The solution is similar for the points with x-coordinate -4.
Here, we need the point(s) P , with coordinates (4, y), such that the distance between
P and the origin O(0, 0) is 5. Using our distance formula,
p
p
d(OP ) = (4 0)2 + (y 0)2 = 16 + y 2 = 5
16 + y 2 = 25
y 2 = 9 y = 3
Here, we get two answers, instead of just one when we encounter a quadratic equation,
since we need all possible solutions to our original problem. So we get two points from

our computation: P1 (4, 3) and P2 (4, 3). Following the procedure above when we get
those points of the form (4, y), we get P3 (4, 3) and P4 (4, 3).
Hence, our desired points are P1 (4, 3), P2 (4, 3), P3 (4, 3) and P4 (4, 3) .
, 2), D(4, 95 ). Which three of these four points
3. Given the points A(3, 1), B(0, 15 ), C( 11
2
are collinear?
We say three points X, Y, Z are collinear if they lie on the same line. But if they
are on the same line, the slopes of the line segments XY, Y Z, XZ must be the same.
Which should give us a clue about our technique here. We can see that there are
six pairs of points we can create from our four points. We compute for the slopes of
the lines passing through these six pairs, and check if some slopes match each other.
So using our derivation for the slope of any line through P (x1 , y1 ) and Q(x2 , y2 ):
m(P Q) =

y1 y2
y2 y1
=
x 2 x1
x 1 x2

We have the following values:

m(AB)

m(AC)

15 1
03

2 15
11
0
2

2
5

2
5

4
35

m(AD)

m(BC)

2
5

m(BD)

m(CD)

2
95

1
2

Here, we can see that m(AB) = m(AC) = m(BC). As we had discussed in class, there
are two ways to interpret this:
(a) If we get, for three distinct points A, B, C, the equation m(AB) = m(AC) =
m(BC), the two lines AB and BC are forced into a single line ABC. Hence,
A, B, and C are collinear.

(b) Or, since m(AD) 6= m(AB), for instance, we can say that AD is a different line,
not parallel to AB. Since we indicated that three of the four points are collinear,
we can automatically say that A, B, and C are our collinear points.
Here, we emphasize what it means for two distinct lines AB and CD to be parallel:
AB and CD must have the same slope, but different y-intercepts.
As a follow-up question, someone raised this nice question last Wednesday. We can
offer some time to think about this:
TRUE OR FALSE: A line is parallel to itself. (Hint: We define the term parallel using how many lines?)
4. Here, we solve algebraically for the x- and y-intercepts of the graphs of the given equations. When we need to solve for the x-intercepts, we set y = 0 and solve for x; for the
y-intercepts, we set x = 0 and solve for y.
For instance, in our first equation, y 2 = x 2, our x-intercept can be found from
02 = x 2 x = 2. Now, if x = 0, we have y 2 = 2, which has no solutions in .
Hence, our first equation has no y-intercepts.

Continuing this computation for the other equations, we have these results:

y2 = x 2
4x2 + 9
x2 9

x-intercept(s) y-intercept(s)
x=2
none
none

y = 1

y = |x 2| 3

x = 5, 1

y = 1

y = x2 + 1

none

y=1

x2 + y 2 = 25

x = 5, 5

y = 5, 5

x=0

y=0

none

none

y=

x=

y2
y4 4

xy = 1

We should see why the last row has no intercepts at all! (Well, that equation can be
1
rewritten as y = , which is never zero for any real number x, and is not defined at
x
x = 0.)

5. We need to determine whether the following lines are parallel, perpendicular, or neither.
We can do this easily, if we convert the equations of all these lines, which are in general
form, into the slope-intercept form y = mx + b:
2
11
2
(a) `1 : 2x 3y = 6 = y = x 2; `2 : 4x + 6y = 11 = y = x +
3
3
4
Our two (distinct) lines have the same slope, and different y-intercepts. Hence,
the two lines are parallel .
4
1
(b) `3 : x + 5y = 4 = y = x + ; `4 : 5x y = 10 = y = 5x + 10
5
5
One look at our lines, and we see that their slopes, 51 and 5, have a product
of 1, which is essentially the characterization of two perpendicular lines.
3
5
5
3
(c) `5 : 3x + 2y = 3 = y = x + ; `6 : 5x 3y = 5 = y = x
2
2
3
3
3
5
Here, our slopes of and
are not equal; neither do they have a product
2
3
of -1. Hence, our two lines are neither parallel nor perpendicular.
6. Find the value of k such that the lines with equations 3x+2y4 = 0 and kx3y+8 = 0
are (a) parallel; (b) perpendicular.
Again, the slope-intercept form does the trick:
3
(a) 3x 2y + 4 = 0 = y = x + 2
2
8
k
(b) kx 3y + 8 = 0 = y = x
3
3
And when we say two lines are parallel, their slopes are equal. And when two lines are
perpendicular, the product of their slopes is -1:
3
k
9
(a) parallel: = = k =
2
3
2
3 k
(b) perpendicular: = 1 = k = 2
2 3
7. Line ` is perpendicular to the line segment with endpoints P (4, 7) and Q(2, 3). If `
passes through the midpoint of the line segment P Q, find an equation for ` in slopeintercept form.
All the concepts we had discussed above, will be used from this problem onwards.

First, we need the midpoint of segment P Q:

mid(P Q) =

4 + 2 7 + (3)
,
2
2

!
= (1, 2)

Next, we need the slope of the line P Q:

m(P Q) =

5
7 (3)
=
4 2
3

And since we need a line perpendicular to the line P Q, our desired line must have slope
3
, and must pass through (1, 2). Thus, by the point-slope form of the line (which we
5
did not discuss in class, but must have been mentioned in your lecture class):
y y1 = m(x x1 )
3
y 2 = (x (1))
5
3
13
y = x+
5
5
And that last equation above is our desired equation for the line.
8. Find a general equation of the line that is parallel to the line with equation `1 :
3x y + 1 = 0 and whose x-intercept is also the x-intercept of the line with equation
`2 : 2x 3y + 6 = 0.
Here, we dont really need to transform the equation for `2 into any form as yet,
because we simply need the x-intercept of the line. We set y = 0 and get the value
x = 3, giving us the x-intercept P (0, 3).
But we need the slope of our desired line - we call it `3 - to be equal to the slope of `1 ,
since both lines are parallel. Thus, we need the slope-intercept form of `1 : y = 3x + 1.
Hence, our desired line has slope 3 (from `1 ), and x-intercept P (0, 3) (from `2 ).
However, when we write the equation of the line, one of the forms needs the slope
and the y-intercept. So this becomes confusing, but we dont to worry at all - we can
try to find one more point on this line, using what we have right now. That is, we need
a point Q(x, y) on `3 such that:
3y
0x
3x = 3 y
3x y + 3 = 0
m=3=

BOOM! And there we go: the general form of our desired line: 3x y + 3 = 0 .

9. Do the points P (3, 2), Q( 32 , 8), and R(3, 25 ) qualify as vertices of a right triangle? If
the triangle exists, find the area of 4P QR.
Here, we can use one prominent feature of the right triangle: two of its sides are perpendicular, forming the right angle. So we check if any two of the segments P Q, QR, P R
are perpendicular:
4
28
m(P Q) =
3 =
3
3 2
52 2
3
m(P R) =
=
3 (3)
4
When we find two segments that have the product of their slopes equal to -1, we can
skip finding the slope of the third side, and conclude that P Q P R, and that we
indeed have a right triangle.
Now, we find the area of 4P QR Since we have a right triangle, we can compute
our area, which we call A, as
d(P Q)d(P R)
A=
2
This follows from the general formula for the area of a triangle. Hence, we have the
following computations:
s
r
2
225
15
3
d(P Q) =
=
3
+ (2 8)2 =
2
4
2
s
r


2
5
15
225
2
=
d(P R) = (3 3) + 2
=
2
4
2
And thus
A=

15
2

15
225
2
=
sq. units
2
8

10. We have five points: A(1, 8), B(13, 4), C(6, 3), D(1, 2), E(11, 2). Which of the following quadrilaterals can be called a parallelogram?
(a) ABDE

(b) ABED

(c) ACED

Also, find the area of 4ADE, and the parallelogram above.

This item is left as the third item in our homework. Kindly do the whole problem, except
the computation of the areas of the triangle and the parallelogram. Heres a hint, which your
instructor hopes will help, even just a bit: one of the points is the midpoint of segments
connecting the four other vertices, in pairs.
WARNING: Graphing the vertices in the coordinate plane is not the proper way to start
solving this! We have to check which of the 10 lines (coming from the 10 pairs of points) will
turn out to be parallel (or maybe perpendicular) to which other lines. It can be done!