Question

A person travels a distance of 5 m towards East, then 4 m towards North and then 2 m towards West.
(i) Calculate the total distance travelled.
(ii) Calculate the net displacement. [2 MARKS]

Answer 1

Finding Distance: 1 Mark
Finding Displacement: 1 Mark

(i) Total distance travelled by the person = $5m+4m+2m=11m$

(ii) To calculate the resultant displacement, we choose a convenient scale, where 1 cm represents 1 m. We draw a 5 cm long line AB towards east and then 4 cm long line BC towards north. Finally, a 2 cm long line CD towards west. The resultant displacement is calculated by joining the initial position A to the final position D.

Net displacement $AD$ = $\sqrt{(3^2+4^2)}=5m$