Grade 6 · Math · Lesson 18

Distance on the Coordinate Plane

When two points on the coordinate plane sit on the same horizontal or vertical line, you do not need any fancy formula to measure the gap between them. You just count the steps along the grid, or — even faster — subtract the coordinates that change and take the absolute value. The other coordinate stays the same, so it does no work.

What this lesson teaches

1Find the distance between two points that share the same x-coordinate by subtracting their y-coordinates
2Find the distance between two points that share the same y-coordinate by subtracting their x-coordinates
3Use absolute value to write the distance between two integer coordinates as a positive number
4Solve real-world distance problems on a coordinate grid where points share an axis

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