Problema Solution

Safety regulations state that it is not safe for a nuclear power plant to be located within 10 miles of any living space. In a certain town houses are located at A(4,5), B(1,3), and C(3,10) in the x,y plane. A company places a nuclear power plant at the point P(15,7). Use the distance formula to determine if the company was ethical in its choice of location for the power plant. Explain your answer

Answer provided by our tutors

The distance formula says:


Let P = (x1, y1) and Q = (x2, y2) be two points on the plane then the distance between P and Q is:


PQ = √((x2 - x1)^2 + (y2 - y1)^2)


In our case we have:


AP = √((15 - 4)^2 + (7 - 5)^2)


AP = √125 > 10


BP = √((15 - 1)^2 + (7 - 3)^2)


BP = √212 > 10


CP = √((15 - 3)^2 + (7 - 10)^2)


CP = √153 > 10


The company was ethical because all three distances are bigger than 10 miles.