Answer to Question #13764 in Mechanics | Relativity for amy

Question

what is the total displacement of a boy who walks 10 m, north; 2m, west; and 8m east?

Answer 1

Let's the boy's initial coordinates be (0,0), Ox for West-East direction and Oy for South-North. Then his final coordinates are

(10;-2+8) = (10;6).

Now let's use Pythagorean theorem to find the total displacement:

L = √(10² + 6²) = √136 ≈ 11.6619 m.