Equidistant P

To start off, you need to know the equation for the shortest distance from a point to a line. This equation is $\frac {|ax_0 + by_0 + c|}{\sqrt{a^2 + b^2}}$ where $a$ and $b$ are the coefficients of $x$ and $y$ in the equation and $c$ is the number, and $x_0$ and $y_0$ are the co-ordinates on the number plane.

Currently, we need to find the value of $x_0$ . We already know that $y_0$ is 0. Until we find the value of $x_0$ , it shall be known as $n$ .

By substituting $2x - y + 1$ into the equation, we get :

$\frac {2a+1}{\sqrt{5}}$

Now we do the same with $x - 2y -2$ :

$\frac {a - 2}{\sqrt{5}}$

These two equations are equal to each other so it takes a matter of simple algebra to get the answer.

$\frac {2a + 1}{\sqrt{5}} = \frac {a - 2}{\sqrt{5}}$

$2a + 1 = a - 2$

$a = -3$

Now we just need find the absolute value of $-3$ which is $3$ .