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Displacement and Distance

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If a whale swims due east for a distance of 7.4 km, turns around and goes due west for 3.1 km and then turns around again and heads 3.6 km due east how do you figure out the total distance traveled by the whale?

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Solution Summary

The solution explains how to use vector addition to work out the total displacement of a whale from the start to the end of its meandering path. 208 words.

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the distance is the magnitude of the displacment vector (this means displecment has a direction as well as magnitude). When we have several consecutive displacements, the total distance is the *simple addition* of all the magnitudes of the different displacement ...

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