A child and her mother are at the park. The child walks around the rectangular park while her mom waits on a bench. The child returns to the bench, finishing her walk at the same place she started. The park is 411 meters wide and 475 meters long. What was the displacement of the child?

Question

anonymous · Answer

Displacement is the final distance from the original point of origin.  So, in this case, the child ends at the same place she started, giving a displacement of zero.

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The straight line is the displacement and the squiggly path would be the distance.  For displacement, we don't care about the path taken.  We only care about the beginning and the end.