Question

While john is traveling along a straight in interstate highway, he notices that the mile marker reads 242 mm. John travels until he reaches the 147 km marker and then retraces his path to the 161km marker. What is John's resultant displacement from the 242km marker? How far has he traveled answer in units of km

Answer 1

Complete Question

While john is traveling along a straight in interstate highway, he notices that the mile marker reads 242 km. John travels until he reaches the 147 km marker and then retraces his path to the 161 km marker. What is John's resultant displacement from the 242 km marker? How far has he traveled answer in units of km

Answer:

The resultant displacement $\Delta x _{1 , 3} = 81 \ km$

The total distance traveled by john is  $x_t =109 \ km$

Explanation:

From the question we are told that

      The first position of john from the finish point   is $x_1 = 242 \ km$

       The second position of john from the finish point is   $x_2 = 147 \ km$

        The third position of john from the finish point is $x_3 = 161 \ km$

Generally the displacement from the 242 km  marker is mathematically represented as

          $\Delta x _{1 , 3} = x_1 - x_3$

Here we used $x_3$ instead of  $x_2$ because $x_3$ is further than $x_2$ from the finish point

=>       $\Delta x _{1 , 3} = 81 \ km$

Generally the total distance traveled by John is  mathematically evaluated as

         $x_t = [x_1 - x_2 ] + [x_3 - x_2]$

=>       $x_t = [242 - 147 ] + [161 - 147]$

=>       $x_t =109 \ km$