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Lines, Segments, and Rays 5301 Views


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Description:

A sequel to the 1989 classic Segments, Lines, and Videotape, this video will change the way you think about lines, segments, and rays. Unless you already have a pretty good grasp on them, in which case... just enjoy the pretty moving pictures.

Language:
English Language

Transcript

00:04

Lines, Segments, and Rays, a la Shmoop.

00:09

This is Astrid.

00:10

She’s first in line at a midnight video game release.

00:13

It’s currently 9 PM.

00:16

If only she could apply this kind of ambition to her schoolwork.

00:19

With such a long time to wait, Astrid is bored out of her mind,

00:22

and wonders if there’s a way she can make her situation more interesting…

00:26

For once in her life, she decides to relate her circumstances to a mathematical concept.

00:32

Astrid is a stationary point at one end of the line, so let’s call her point “A.”

00:38

Her best friend Basil just got in line at the other end; he can be point “B.”

00:45

The line is getting longer all the time, as additional devotees arrive.

00:49

More and more people keep appearing behind Basil, because the game is so darn popular…

00:54

in fact, the line is growing… infinitely.

00:57

If Astrid never moved from the front of the line, we would say she’s standing in a ray.

01:03

It has one endpoint, “A,” and extends infinitely in the direction of point “B.”

01:08

So we would call it ray “AB.”

01:12

Now imagine someone cuts in front of Astrid while she’s distracted.

01:16

And while she was busy arguing with that person, another person cut in front of them. And so on.

01:22

If the back of the line kept growing indefinitely and the front of the line was also growing

01:25

indefinitely as more and more people cut, we would call this line “AB.”

01:30

That’s right; a true line, in mathematical terms, extends infinitely in both directions.

01:35

So in reality, Astrid and Basil are currently waiting in a line segment –

01:40

specifically, a line segment with endpoints “A” and “B.”

01:45

So it would be technically inaccurate to say they’re waiting in… line.

01:49

Well, that killed about two minutes.

01:51

Only another two hours and fifty-eight minutes to go until she

01:54

can get her hands on Math Blasters 4: The Revenge.

01:58

Astrid prefers blowing up math problems to solving them.

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