This document provides instructions for using a coordinate plane to calculate distances between points. It explains that the distance between two points can be expressed as the absolute value of the difference between their x-coordinates plus the absolute value of the difference between their y-coordinates. Several examples are worked out, such as finding the distance between points (-3,1) and (4,1) as |-3| + |4| = 7 units. The document also uses this concept to calculate the total distance traveled by Mrs. Labuski on various errands before a baseball game.