A man walks a distance of 3km due east, then another 4km due south. What is the displacement relative to his starting point?

1 Answer
Jun 19, 2018

Because East and South are at right angles to each other, we can use the distance formula:

d = sqrt((3" km")^2+(4" km")^2)

d = sqrt(9" km"^2+ 16" km"^2)

d = sqrt(25" km"^2)

d = 5" km"