Question

A person moves 5m towards east and4m towards east then 5m towards south. Calculate the distance covered and the displacement

Answer 1

Given :

• Person moves 5m towards east and 4m towards east i.e, total Distance Travelled by person in x-direction is 9m
• Then he travelled 5m towards south in y-direction

To Find :

• Distance and displacement travelled by a person

Solution :

➞ Distance - Distance is total lenght of path covered by the particle, in definite time interval.

Here, distance travelled by person is

➞ 9 + 5

➞ 14m

➞ Displacement - is change in Position of particles from initial to final point.

Let , x is the displacement of person

$\implies{\sf x = \sqrt{(5)^2+(9)^2}}$

$\implies{\sf x = \sqrt{25+81} }$

$\implies{\sf x = \sqrt{106} }$

$\implies{\bf x = 10.29\: m}$

Answer :

Distance travelled by person is 14m

Displacement travelled by person is 10.29m

Extra Info.

• Displacement is scalar quantity while displacement is vector quantity
• Distance depends on path while displacement is independent of path
• For a Moving body , distance cannot have zero or negative value but displacement may be positive , negative or zero