Bella, what you are going to do is find the midpoint of the x-coordinates by splitting the difference between them and then doing the same thing for the y-coordinates to find the midpoint of your two original points.
By saying "splitting the difference," I am giving you a strong hint as to what to do. The difference is found by subtracting, and splitting means dividing in half.
So subtract the x-coordinates (4 – [–6]) and then divide the difference by 2 to get the x-coordinate of the midpoint:
(x1 – x2) / 2 = (4 – [–6] ) / 2= (4 + 6) / 2 = 10 /2 = 5
Midpoint (5, y)
We are halfway there. Do the same thing for the y-coordinates, just making sure that you take them in the same order as you did for the x-coordinates.
(y1 – y2) / 2 = (–8 – 6) / 2 = –14 / 2 = –7
Midpoint (5,–7)
You can sketch the line segment and plot the midpoint to see if the answer seems reasonable.
