Question

A car drives 16 miles south and then 12 miles west. What is the magnitude of the car’s displacement? 4 miles 16 miles 20 miles 28 miles

Answer 1

20 miles. just took the quiz.

Answer 2

For this case, what we can do is use the Pythagorean theorem to find the magnitude of the displacement of the car.
We have then

`d ^ 2 = 16 ^ 2 + 12 ^ 2`
From here, we clear the value of d.
We have then:

`d = √(16 ^ 2 + 12 ^ 2)`
Rewriting:

`d = √(256 + 144)`

`d = √(400)`

`d = 20 miles`
Answer:
The magnitude of the car's displacement is:
d = 20 miles