Answer:
In short, the distance formula is a formalization of the Pythagorean Theorem using x and y coordinates. In other words, they are the same thing in two seemingly different contexts. The distance formula makes sense in a coordinate context. It's used to compute the distance between two points in an orthogonal coordinate system (i.e. a plane with a coordinate system such that). In short, If you plot 2 points on a graph right, you can form a triangle between the 2 points. You can determine the legs's sizes using the coordinates of the points. Pythagorean theorem is then used to find the hypotenuse, which IS the distance from one point to the other.
