A man a has to go 50 m due north, 40 m due east and 20 m due south to reach a field. (a) What distance he has to walk to reach the field? (b) What is his displacement from his house to the field?

Question

Philoid · Accepted Answer

Let A be the starting point and D be the field, ending point .Then the distance travelled by man can be represented as below

a. Distance he has to walk to reach field is

b. Displacement is the shortest distance between initial and final point, which is AD

In triangle AED,

I.e.