Chapter 12.6, Problem 36E

To determine

To find: The coordinates of the midpoint of the line segment.

Answer to Problem 36E

The coordinate of the midpoint is $\left(-1.5,-5.5\right)$ .

Explanation of Solution

Given information:

The points are $R\left(-5,-7\right)$ and $S\left(2,-4\right)$ .

The formula for the midpoint can be written as $\left(\frac{x_1+x_2}{2},\frac{y_1+y_2}{2}\right)$ .

Substitute -5 for $x_1$ , 2 for $x_2$ , -7 for $y_1$ , and -4 for $y_2$ in the formula $\left(\frac{x_1+x_2}{2},\frac{y_1+y_2}{2}\right)$ to find the midpoint.

  $\begin{array}{c}\left(\frac{x_1+x_2}{2},\frac{y_1+y_2}{2}\right)=\left(\frac{2+\left(-5\right)}{2},\frac{-4+\left(-7\right)}{2}\right)\\ =\left(\frac{-3}{2},\frac{-11}{2}\right)\\ =\left(-1.5,-5.5\right)\end{array}$

Therefore, the coordinate of the midpoint is $\left(-1.5,-5.5\right)$ .