Final answer:
In physics, magnitude refers to the size or quantity of a physical quantity, such as distance or force, without considering its direction. The magnitude is always a scalar quantity and is calculated by taking the absolute value. For example, if the total displacement along the x-axis is -2 meters, the magnitude of the displacement is 2 meters.
Step-by-step explanation:
In physics, magnitude refers to the size or quantity of a physical quantity, such as distance or force, without considering its direction. For example, the magnitude of a displacement is the absolute value or positive value of the displacement vector. Similarly, the magnitude of a force is the positive value of the force vector.
Calculating the magnitude involves taking the absolute value, which means removing the negative sign if present. This is because displacement and force vectors cannot have negative magnitudes. The magnitude is always a scalar quantity, which means it only has a magnitude and not a direction.
For example, if the total displacement along the x-axis is -2 meters, the magnitude of the displacement is 2 meters because the absolute value of -2 is 2.