Directed Distance

Pronunciation: /dɪˈrɛk.tɪd ˈdɪs.təns/ Explain

A directed distance is a distance that may be positive or negative. By convention, distance is usually taken to be a positive quantity. In analytical geometry, a directed distance may be used. This is useful for measuring the distance of a point from the origin.

By convention, a positive directed distance is to the right, up, or towards the viewer. A negative distance is to the left, down, or away from the viewer. One example of directed distance is a number line with negative numbers.

Figure 1: Directed distance on a number line.

References

1. McAdams, David E.. All Math Words Dictionary, directed distance. 2nd Classroom edition 20150108-4799968. pg 61. Life is a Story Problem LLC. January 8, 2015. Buy the book

Cite this article as:

McAdams, David E. Directed Distance. 12/21/2018. All Math Words Encyclopedia. Life is a Story Problem LLC. http://www.allmathwords.org/en/d/directeddistance.html.

Image Credits

• All images and manipulatives are by David McAdams unless otherwise stated. All images by David McAdams are Copyright © Life is a Story Problem LLC and are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

Revision History

12/21/2018: Reviewed and corrected IPA pronunication. (McAdams, David E.)
7/4/2018: Removed broken links, updated license, implemented new markup, implemented new Geogebra protocol. (McAdams, David E.)
1/23/2010: Added "References". (McAdams, David E.)
7/11/2008: Added number line image. (McAdams, David E.)
5/7/2008: Initial version. (McAdams, David E.)