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Suppose I have a point $(a,b,c)$. What is the distance from this point to the $x$-axis?

I had supposed that it would be simply $\sqrt{b^2+c^2}$ but this does not seem to be the case.

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    It is indeed $\sqrt{y^2+z^2}$. What made you think otherwise?2012-08-29
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    The answer system marks me wrong when I claim this.2012-08-29
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    Are you sure you didn't make a mistake elsewhere? The intuition behind this statement is that since $x$ coordinate does not affect the distance to $x$-axis, you can squash the whole space into the $x = 0$ plane and you already know how to find the distance there.2012-08-29
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    I had the very same intuition- turns out I added the $y^2$ and $z^2$ in question incorrectly.2012-08-29

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