Question

If a man travels 12km towards east and returns back to travel 5km towards west then find displacement of man

Answer 1

displacement - shortest distance between initial and final position.

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displacement =( 12- 5 ) km = 7 km

Answer 2

First he goes 12 km in the left means according to one dimensional kinematics it he made a displacement of -12km then he again moved to 5 km west after adding them we get -7km the displacement he made is -7km and distance he traveled is 17km.

(First rule of one dimensional kinematics is, the positive side he will travel will always be in positive and and the backward means east will be negetive unless it's a type of race or the whole point is in East)

Remember displacement and distance traveled is two different thing.