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An ant walks 2 meters West, 3 meters North, and 6 meters East. what is the displacement of the ant?

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The displacement of the ant is 5 meters. Displacement is a vector quantity, so it includes both magnitude (5 meters) and direction (angle from the initial position).

To determine the displacement of the ant, we can visualize its movements on a coordinate plane. Let's assume the ant starts at the origin (0,0).

The ant walks 2 meters West, so it moves to the point (-2, 0). Then, it travels 3 meters North, reaching the point (-2, 3). Finally, it walks 6 meters East, bringing it to the point (4, 3).

To find the displacement, we can use the distance formula or vector addition. The displacement vector is the straight line from the starting point to the final point. In this case, it forms a right-angled triangle with sides of length 4 and 3. Using the Pythagorean theorem, we find the displacement is √(4^2 + 3^2) = √(16 + 9) = √25 = 5 meters.

User David Casillas
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