Question

6. A student travels 4.0 m east, 8.0 m south, 4.0 m west, and finally 8.0 m north. What is her

displacement?
What distance did she travel?

Answer 1

The student's path traces out a rectangle and she ends up at the same spot, so her displacement is 0 m.

On the other hand, she travels a total distance equal to the perimeter of that rectangle,

4.0 m + 8.0 m + 4.0 m + 8.0 m = 24 m