A man walked 3 km towards North, then 8 km towards South. What is his final position with respect to his initial position?
5 km towards South
The north direction can be taken as positive and south as negative.
Then walking 3 km towards north can be taken as +3 units.
Walking 8 km towards south can be taken as -8 units.
The final position = +3 - 8 = -5 units.
Here, the '-' sign shows that he is in south direction with respect to his initial position.
⇒ The man's final position is 5 units in the south with respect to his initial position.