If you travel 1.7 km north from your house at noon, and at 6:00 PM you travel 5.4 km south, what is your displacement? 3.7 km north 3.7 km south 7.1 km north 7.1 km south

Answer

3.7 Km south

Explanation

The definition of displacement is the distance traveled in a specific direction. It is the vector quantity. We add displacements like the way we add vectors.

Taking the direction towards North to be positive (+1.7 Km), the distance towards south would be negative (-5.4 Km).

Now lets add the two values.

(+1.7) + (-5.4) = 1.7 - 5.4

= - 3.7 Km But negative was towards south.

∴ Answer = 3.7 Km south.