Question

The dispatcher of courier service receives a message from truck A that reports a position of +5 after a displacement of +2. What was the initial position of Truck A? First solve the problem using a number line and then solve the problem using an equation.

Answer 1

The formula we need to use is displacement.

$d=\Delta{x}=x_f-x_i$, where xf is final position and xi is initial position.

We report the final position of 5 and the displacement of 2 so the formula is now:

$2=5-x_i\Longrightarrow x_i=3$.

So the initial position of truck A is 3.

Hope this helps.

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