Midpoints of Line Segments and Distance
The distance between two points is simply the length of the line that connects them. In the image below, the length of the line segment is 12. This is the distance between point H and point J.
The midpoint of a line segment is the point at the very center of the line segment. The distance from the midpoint to each end point is equal. In the image below, the midpoint, M, is 6 units from point H and 6 units from point J.
Example:
Line segment AB has midpoint M. If the length of AM is 5x – 4 and the length of BM is 36, what is the value of x?
Since M is the midpoint, segment AM and segment BM will have equal lengths.
5x – 4 = 36
5x = 40x = 8
