College Algebra (10th Edition)

Published by Pearson
ISBN 10: 0321979478
ISBN 13: 978-0-32197-947-6

Chapter 2 - Section 2.1 - The Distance and Midpoint Formulas - 2.1 Assess Your Understanding - Page 155: 49

Answer

$(4+3\sqrt{3},0) $ and $ (4-3\sqrt{3},0)$

Work Step by Step

A point on the x axis has coordinates $P_{1}(x,0).$ Given $P_{2}(4,-3)$, we find $x$ from $\begin{aligned} & \\ d(P_{1},P_{2}) & =\sqrt{(x_{2}-x_{1})^{2}+(y_{2}-y_{1})^{2}}\\ 6 & =\sqrt{(4-x)^{2}+(-3-0)^{2}}\\ 6^{2} & =(4-x)^{2}+(-3-0)^{2}\\ 36 & =16-8x+x^{2}+9\\ 0 & =x^{2}-8x-11 \end{aligned}$ Using the quadratic formula, $x=\displaystyle \frac{-b\pm\sqrt{b^{2}-4ac}}{2a}=$ $=\displaystyle \frac{8\pm\sqrt{64+44}}{2}=$ $=\displaystyle \frac{8\pm\sqrt{108}}{2}$ $=\displaystyle \frac{8\pm 6\sqrt{3}}{2}$ $=4\pm 3\sqrt{3}$ The points have coordinates $(4+3\sqrt{3},0) $ and $ (4-3\sqrt{3},0)$
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