Question

A person travels 6 meters north, 4 meters east, and 6 meters south. What is the total displacement?

Answer 1

4 meters east.

up 6 and down 6 cancel out.

Answer 2

Answer:

4 meters east

Displacement is the distance "as the crow flies" away from the starting point. The 6 meters north and south cancel each other out, since 6 + (-6) is 0 (assuming north and east are the positive directions). This means the only chnage that remains is the 4 meters east