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If you travel 2 km north, then travel 5 km south, what is your displacement?

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Answer:

This is a vector addition problem which requires magnitude and direction as the answer. First is to resolve the southbound vector and the northbound vector. Since they are opposite in directions their vector sum is their algebraic sum. 3 km north + 5 km south = 2 km south.

We then add 2 km west and 2 km south using Pythagorean theorem since west and south form a right angle. (2 km)^2 west + (2 km)^2 south gives (4 + 4) km^2 southwest = 8 (km)^2 45 degrees south of west

Extracting the square root of 8 gives us about 2.83 km 45 degrees south of west.

Step-by-step explanation:

I hope it will help you...

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