CK12 - Geometry

To start,you may think that you can just find the distanceon the -axis betweenthe two lines.That distance

is units.However, this is not correct,as the shortestdistancebetweentwo lineswill be a perpendicular

segmentbetweenthem.The -axisis perpendicularto neitherline.

You’ll needto drawa perpendicularsegmentand calculateits length.To begin,identifythe slopeof the
lines in the diagram.You can then identifythe slopeof a perpendicularbecausethe slopeswill be opposite
reciprocals.To find the slopeof a line, use the formulato calculate.Pick two pointson one of the lines—here

we will use and from the line.

The slopeof the parallellines in the diagramis The slopeof the perpendicularsegmentwill be the opposite

reciprocalof The reciprocalof is and the oppositeof is. The slopeof the perpendicularline

is. Pick a pointon the line and use the slopeto drawa perpendicularsegment.Rememberthat the

line will go down1 unit for every unitsyou movethe right.