Question

What is the displacement of a sprinter who runs 200 m west and 100 m east?

Answer 1

displacement is the measure of the distance from the starting and ending points, AND the direction.

it doesn't matter that she ran 300 m total.

here the math for displacement:

point b (the direction with the larger number) - point a(direction with the smaller number

the direction will be point b's direction.

so, plug it in.

200 m west - 100 m east

=100 m west

^^

if u were to draw displacement, you would not need 2 draw the 200 m west or the 100 m east; you would imply draw the starting point and then 100 m west, and draw a straight line connecting them.