Given a point (x, y) and the equation of a line y=mx+b, there are many ways to find the distance d from the point to the line. To explain each method, we'll use the example shown here, where the point is (4, 1) and the line is y=2x+4. Method 1: Find the equations of both lines Method 2: Trigonometry Method 3: Find the area of a triangle using coordinates Method 4: Find the area of a triangle using Heron's formula Method 5: Use a one-step formula You will discover that all five methods give the same answer: 4.92 units. There are other methods as well; we've shown the most common ones here. Resources Content, HTML, graphics & design by Bill Willis 2023