Find the Distance Between Two Parallel Lines - Pre-Calculus

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Question

Find the distance between the two lines.

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Answer

Since the slope of the two lines are equivalent, we know that the lines are parallel. Therefore, they are separated by a constant distance. We can then find the distance between the two lines by using the formula for the distance from a point to a nonvertical line:

First, we need to take one of the line and convert it to standard form.

where

Now we can substitute A, B, and C into our distance equation along with a point, , from the other line. We can pick any point we want, as long as it is on line . Just plug in a number for x, and solve for y. I will use the y-intercept, where x = 0, because it is easy to calculate:

Now we have a point, , that is on the line . So let's plug our values for :

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