Question

A girl delivering newspapers covers her route
by traveling 2 blocks west, 3 blocks north,
then 4 blocks east.

A. What is her direction? Use counterclockwise
as the positive angular direction from due
east, between the limits of −180 and 180.

B. What is her total distance?

Answer 1

Let's take north as the positive y-direction, and east as the positive x-direction. Her total displacement in the y-direction is +3 blocks. Her displacement in the x-direction is (-2) + 4 = +2 You can then figure out the angle using trigonometric rules (e.g. tan\(\theta\) = opposite / adjacent), and get the distance using either the trig rules or with Pythagoras' theorem.

Answer 2

It asks for total distance not displacement. Total distance traveled would be 2+3+4, if they want total displacement then you need to do the trig.

Answer 3

Ah, quite so. You still need to use trig to get the direction though.