Shortest Distance From a Curve To A Point

Tu Pham
Department of Mathematics, San Francisco State University Mission High School, Mr. Hsu Calculus Class

The Big Question The Generalized Problem Example Conclusions and Outlook
Let f (x) be a curve in the xy-coordinate system 1 2
4 (x 2) 4
What is the shortest distance from a curve to a We consider the curve f (x) = and our This lesson plan was implemented in Mr. Hsus Cal-
point? We can take this question a step further and our fixed point is (a, b). Hence any point on the fixed point is the origin. culus class at Mission High School. They are all very
and ask the following question. Which point on curve would be (x, f (x)). bright students therefore this lesson plan wasnt as
the curve is it the closest to a fixed point and Ifwe denote D(x) as the distance from (x, f (x)) challenging for them as I had hope. This activity let
what is the distance between the two points? In to (a, b) then we get them learn to interprete a word problem geometri-
this lesson plan we will teach the students how v
cally and to formulize the distance function together
D(x) = (x a)2 + (f (x) b)2
u
u
u
t

to find the distance between two points in the
By how D(x) is define, we know that D(x) 0.
xy-plane. From there we will formulize the dis-
tance function and find the minimal point from
the distance function.
as a group. This activity requires them to take the
derivative of D(x), which can be tricky. My goal
This makes sense since distance between two points was to let the students in Mr. Hsu class to see the
can never be negative. Since we are trying to find beauty of calculus by using calculus to prove geo-
the smallest distance between the curve f (x) and v
metric properties that were taught to them before.
1
u
u
u
u

(a, b), we would like to find the absolute minimum x2 ( (x 2)2 4)2
u

D(x) =
u

Another lesson plan is to use calculus to prove why

u
u
u

4
u

Distance between two points

t

of D(x). the volume of a sphere is 43 r3 and why the volume

To find the minimum we take the derivative of 1 2
of a pyramid is 3 b h. This requires integration and
We first start by calculating the distance between D(x) and set it equal to 0 since the minimum point revolution therefore it can be a lot more challenging
any two points (a, b) and (c, d). We do this by us- has a slope of 0. but can be very rewarding.
ing the Pythagorean Theorem. Assuming that (a, b) 2(x a) + 2(f (x) b)f 0
(x)
0
and (c, d) are not horizontally or vertically align in 0 = D (x) = v

(x a)2 + (f (x) b)2

u
u

Volume of a Sphere
u
t

the xy-plane then we can form a right triangle. From 0

The only way D (x) = 0 is when the numerator is
this triangle we get that the hypotenus would be the
0. Hence 2(x a) + 2(f (x) b)f 0(x) = 0. There
distance between the two points.
could possibly be multiple local minimums. There
could also be multiple absolute minimum points
but there is only one shortest distance from f (x)
to (a, b).
If you intersect a plane through a sphere, the intersection will
always be a circle unless the plane is tangent to the sphere.
We can calculate the minimum point by graphing From this you can easily convince the students that if you take
a half of a circle and revolve it around the x-axis then we will
D(x) in a graphing calculator and finding the mini- form a sphere.
mum.

Something Cool
It is known that the shortest path from a point to a line is the perpendicular to the line. Therefore the
slope of the path is the negative reciprocal of the slope of the line. We can use our distance formula D(x)
and calculus to help us see why this is true. From r to r we are integrating circles. The area of these
Figure 1: The height of the right triangle is |d b| and the
circles is R2. But R is dependent on where x is. For example
base is |c a|. And the distance between the two points is
when x = r then R = 0 and when x = 0 then R = r. To
exactly the hypotenus.
be more precise, R = 1 x2. Hence we have the following
Proof with Example integration
Using the Pythagorean Theorem we get r 2 r 2
R dx = (1 x )dx
Z Z

r r
D2 = (d b)2 + (c a)2 Given the line y = 2x + 10 we want the find the 3r r3 r3 4 3
x x |r = r + r = r
v

D = (d b)2 + (c a)2
u
u
u
t
shortest distance from the line to the origin. Our 3 3 3 3
distance function is
v
D(x) = x2 + (2x + 10)2 = 5x2 40x + 100 Acknowledgements
u
u
u
t

Taking the derivative we get

10x 40 This works was supported by (CM)2 Creating Momentum
0
D (x) = 2 Through Communicating Mathematics San Francisco State
5x 40x + 100 University NSF GK12 Program, http://math.sfsu.edu/cm2/.
The only way D0(x) = 0 is when the numerator is
The line connecting (0, 0) to (4, 2) is exactly perpen-
0. Hence 10x 40 = 0 x = 4. Thus we get that
dicular to y = 2x + 10.
the point (4, 2) is the closest point to the origin.