Edexcel GCSE Maths

Distance, midpoint & gradient

Edexcel GCSE Maths revision on Distance, midpoint & gradient. Aligned to the Pearson Edexcel GCSE Mathematics 1MA1 specification. This bank has 19 practice questions on this topic.

Sample questions (3 of 19)

  1. Question 1

    What is the midpoint of the line segment connecting the points (2, 4) and (6, 8)?

    • A) (4, 6) because you find the mean value of x and y
    • B) (8, 12) because you add the x and y coordinates
    • C) (4, 4) because you subtract the x and y values
    • D) (2, 2) because you divide the larger by smaller
    Show answer

    Answer: (4, 6) because you find the mean value of x and y

    The correct answer is (4, 6) because you find the mean of the coordinates: (2+6)/2 = 4 and (4+8)/2 = 6. Students often mistakenly add the coordinates without dividing by two, leading to the distractor (8, 12).

  2. Question 2

    What is the gradient of the line passing through the points (0, 0) and (3, 9)?

    Show answer

    Answer: 3

    The gradient is calculated as (y2 - y1) / (x2 - x1). Substituting the values gives (9 - 0) / (3 - 0), which equals 3.

  3. Question 3

    Which value represents the length of the line segment between the points (1, 2) and (4, 6)?

    • A) 5 units long as calculated by Pythagoras theorem
    • B) 7 units long as calculated by absolute sums now
    • C) 3 units long as calculated by vertical distance
    • D) 9 units long as calculated by squared distances
    Show answer

    Answer: 5 units long as calculated by Pythagoras theorem

    The distance is the square root of (4-1)^2 + (6-2)^2, which is the square root of 3^2 + 4^2. This simplifies to the square root of 9 + 16, which is 5.

Want to test yourself on the remaining cards for this topic?

16 more questions on Distance, midpoint & gradient — plus mistakes tracking and spaced repetition across the whole Maths spec.