Question

a car is driven eastward for a distance of 5km. determine the total displacement of the car from its starting point, to the nearest km.

Answer 1

The total displacement is

d=√((n-s)^2+(e-w)^2 ),

where n,s,e,w – total distances that car was driven northward, southward, eastward, westward respectively. Thus, in our situation,

d=√((0-0)^2+(5-0)^2 )=5 km.