Question

A girl delivering newspapers covers her route
by traveling 5 blocks west, 2 blocks north,
then 6 blocks east.
What is her resultant displacement?
Answer in units of blocks
What is her direction? Use counterclockwise
as the positive angular direction from due
east, between the limits of −180◦
and 180◦
.
Answer in units of ◦

Answer 1

So, as you see, she basically moves 1 block east and 2 blocks north.

Answer 2

To find the angle, use trig ratios. Which ratio uses opposite and adjacent?

Answer 3

Tangent does. So, plugging this in, Tan(theta)= 2/1. To find the angle, find the arctan, or tan^-1 of 2.

Answer 4

Which is 63 degrees. To find the displacement, use the Pythagorean theorem.2 squared plus 1 squared=3, so the displacement magnitude is the square root of 3, or 1.73.