The Midpoint of a Line Segment
We are going to elevate our study in analytic geometry past slope and intercepts. This will allow us to model more complex situations
The Midpoint of some line segments can be found by inspection (3,2)
For other lines, we will need a process (3 and a bit, just under 3)
Consider something we know Find the middle of the following pair of numbers 4, 10 ( ) / 2 = 14 / 2 = 7 (the average) We’ll use the same idea for line segments …
Find the average x coordinate (x 1, y 1 ) (x 2, y 2 ) Find the average y coordinate
Formula for the midpoint of a line segment (x,y) = Where (x,y) are the midpoints of the line segment
Find the midpoint. (2,1) (5,4) [(2 + 5)/2, (1 + 4) / 2 = (3.5, 2.5) (3.5, 2.5)