Distance Challenge
By: Chris Brown
Under the direction of Prof. Susan Rodger
Duke University, January 2013
Problem
• It’s Jimmy’s first time in a new city, and we need
to help him find his way around! He knows
where he is located in the center at (0, 0) to start,
and he also knows the coordinates of each place
he wants to visit. Your job will be to fill in the
distance function, to calculate the distance from
Jimmy to his destination. You can move around
the city by clicking on the different places of
interest that you want to visit.
• 1 unit = 1 meter
Problem
We want to calculate this distance!
(0, 0)
(9, -4)
Problem
• Now, Jimmy wants to go from the theme park
to the museum…
(9, -4)
(-6, -6)
world.distance
• Each time the distance function is called, four
parameters are passed in with information you
will need. It provides you with Jimmy’s x
value, Jimmy’s y value, the destination’s x
value, and the destination’s y value. It is your
job to correctly return the distance from Jimmy
to his destination in this function.
• Hint: What is the distance formula? It can be derived from
Pythagorean’s Theorem.
world.distance
Bonus Challenge!
• Go into the Alice Object
Gallery to add new
places, with an original
animation every time
Jimmy visits that place.
Make sure to create
variables for your
location’s x and y
position to be passed
into your distance
function later on.