Final answer:
The question asks about displacement in physics, capturing how the direction of travel affects the total displacement of a person based on their movements east and north.
Step-by-step explanation:
The question concerns the principle of displacement in physics. Displacement refers to the change in position of an object and is a vector quantity, which means it has both magnitude and direction. If a person follows a set of directions walking 2 km east and then 1 km north, they will have moved from their starting position to a new location in a straight-line distance, which could be calculated using the Pythagorean theorem for this right-angled triangle scenario. However, if the person takes a wrong turn for the second leg and walks in the opposite direction, the magnitude of their total displacement would be different from the intended path.