Activity Overview
Investigate the distance between two points, a point and a line, and two lines.
Objectives
- Students will be able to recognize that the distance between two parallel lines is constant.
- Students will identify segments that represent the distance between two points, a point and a line, and parallel lines.
Vocabulary
- parallel lines
- perpendicular lines
- distance
- coinciding points
About the Lesson
This lesson involves working with parallel lines and identifying distances between various points and lines. As a result students will:
- Manipulate points and segments to determine that the distance between a point and a line is the length of the shortest segment from the point to the line.
- Manipulate lines to make them parallel, then move a segment and observe that the measured distance between the two lines is constant.
- Use informal deductive language to construct arguments about the distance between points and lines.