Question

If you travel 1.7 km north from your house at noon, and at 6 pm you travel 5.4 km south, what is your displacement?

Answer 1

If you would like to know your final displacement, you can calculate this using the following steps:

x ... your house
at noon: 1.7 km north from x
at 6 pm: 5.4 km south

1.7 km - 5.4 km = 1.7 - 5.4 = -3.7 km

The correct result would be 3.7 km south from your house.