The diagram illustrates the problem.
Drawing this on a coordinate plane gives us coordinates for Jacob (-4, 3) and coordinates for Sharon (12, -5).
The distance formula is:
[tex] \sqrt{( x_{2}-x_{1})^{2} +(y_{2}-y_{1})^2 } [/tex]
Substituting our values for Jacob and Sharon in we get:
[tex]\sqrt{(-4-12)^2+(3--5)^2} \\ \sqrt{(-16)^2 + (3+5)^2} \\ \sqrt{256+(8)^2} \\ \sqrt{256+64} \\ \sqrt{320}=17.89[/tex]
They are now 17.89 m apart.
