Figuring out the Distance Between Two Points on a Number LIne

Look at the following Sketchpad drawing and determine what pattern you see between the length of the segments AND the coordinates of the endpoints of the line segment.

[Go Figure out the Ruler Postulate on GSP] Figure Out the Ruler Postulate on GSP

In general, what is the distance between two points on a number line?Look at the figure below and see if you can come up with the Ruler Postulate.

Given Point A with coordinate x and Point B with coordinate y, the distance between A and B on the number lines is AB=____________


Go to the Summary to see if you conjectured correctly!

[Go back to the Distance Page] Return to the Distance Page