Question

Displacement vectors of 4km north, 2km south, 5km north, 5km south combine to a total displacement of

Answer 1

Answer

The combined displacement is 2km north

Explanation

Since displacement is a vector quantity, we take into account the direction.

Good for us all the displacement vectors are in the same dimension, so we can make north positive and south negative or vice-versa.

We now add to obtain,

$4+-2+5+-5$

This will simplify to

$=4-2+5-5=2$

Therefore the combined displacement is 2km north