Question

-Maggie turned right out of the school and drove 5 miles East to the store. She left the store and drove 2 miles North to Pelican's, then drove 5 miles South to her friend's house. When it was time to pick up her brother, she drove 7 miles West, then drove 4 miles North. Maggie and her brother then drove 2 miles East to get home. What is the displacement from Maggie's home to school?

Answer 1

The school is at displacement of 1 mile towards South from the home.

Explanation:

Let the origin, O, represents the location of the school.

Now, observe the attached figure for all the displacements as:

She drove 5 miles East to shore ( to point A)

So, OA=5 miles.

Then she drove 2 miles North to Pelican's ( to point B)

So, AB=2 miles.

Then she drove 5 miles South to her friend's house ( to point C)

So, BC=5 miles.

Then she drove 7 miles West, to point D,

So, CD=7 miles.

Then she drove 4 miles North, to point E,

So, DE=4 miles.

Lastly, she drove 2 miles East, to reach home (the point F)

So, EF=2 miles.

Now computing the displacements in each direction.

The displacements in the East direction=OA+EF= 5+2= 7 miles

The displacements in the West direction =CD= 7 miles

As East and West are opposite to east other, so net displacements in the East direction = 7+(-7)=0, i.e the final point F ( home) is on the vertical axis as shown.

The displacements in the North direction=AB+DE= 2+4= 6 miles

The displacements in the South direction=BC=5 miles

As North and South are opposite to east other, so net displacements in the North direction = 6+(-5)= 1 miles which means final point F ( home) is located at 1 mile towards North from the school.

Hence, the school is at displacement of 1 mile towards South from the home.