Question

On the way to school, Jed traveled 100m north, 300m east, 100 north, 100m east, and 100m north. A.) Find the total distance travelled by Jed. B.) Determine the displacement by jed.​

Answer 1

Answer:

Total distance = 700 m

Displacement = 500 m

Explanation:

Notice that Jed travelled a total of 3 x 100 m = 300 m in the North direction, and 300 m + 100 m = 400 m in the East direction. Therefore the total distance he travelled is:  300 + 400 = 700 m.

But the actual displacement is given by the Pythagorean theorem as the hypotenuse of a right angle triangle of legs 300 m and 400 m:

displacement = $\sqrt{300^2+400^2} =\sqrt{250000} =500\,m$