Question

You walk 10 meters to the West, then you turn and walk 2 meters to the south ? What’s the displacement?

Answer 1

The displacement is 10.2 meters at an angle of 11.3° south of west.

Step-by-step explanation:

In this scenario, you walk 10 meters to the west (left) and then 2 meters to the south (down). To find the displacement, we need to calculate the net change in position from the starting point to the final point.

We can use the Pythagorean theorem to find the magnitude of the displacement:

|displacement| = √((10)^2 + (-2)^2) = 10.2 meters

Since the displacement is towards the southwest, we can use the angle to determine the direction: tan θ = opposite/adjacent = 2/10 = 0.2

θ = arctan(0.2) = 11.3° south of west

Therefore, the displacement is 10.2 meters at an angle of 11.3° south of west.