Question

Please explain why do we change 200 m to -200 m (N) instead why we don’t change the 600 m to -600 m south Why we changed the north why not the south what is the difference please explain I already have the solution but I don’t understand which one we have to put negative and why is it the north why it’s not the south thank you

Answer 1

Given data

*A person walks from home to store in north direction is d_1 = 200 m

*Then, he travels from store to friend's house in south direction is d_2 = 600 m

The formula for the total displacement is given as

$\Delta d=d_1-d_2$

Substitute the known values in the above expression as

$\begin{gathered} \Delta d_1=200-600 \\ =-400\text{ m} \end{gathered}$

Here, the negative sign indicates that the person is moving in the south direction.

Hence, the total displacement is -400.0 m