Final answer:
The given situation with the butterfly represents a displacement problem in physics, specifically concerning a starting point and a movement opposite to a reference direction. Displacement is a vector quantity involving both distance and direction, unlike the total travel path illustrated by Monarch butterfly migrations.
Step-by-step explanation:
The question mentions a butterfly starting at 20m and then changing by -16m. This seems to represent a problem about displacement, where an initial position and a change in position (which could be interpreted as movement) are given. In physics, displacement refers to the change in position of an object and is a vector quantity that has both magnitude and direction. In this case, if the butterfly changes its position by -16m, it means that the butterfly has moved 16 meters in the direction opposite to the positive reference direction (assuming positive is the direction it initially faced) from its starting point of 20 meters.
What is crucial to understand about displacement is that it doesn't necessarily correspond to the total distance traveled by an object—instead, it's the straight-line distance from the initial to the final position, along with the direction of that line. To better grasp this concept, one can consider the migratory pattern of Monarch butterflies, which cover great distances but whose overall displacement depends on their starting point and final location after migration.
For a quantitative example, consider a physics problem where an object moves with certain displacements in unit vector notation, similar to the pattern of movement described for other entities like birds, cyclists, or hockey pucks in the provided information. This reinforces the understanding of vector quantities in physics and how they are crucial in describing motion.