question_answer

A man has to go 50 m due north, 4.0 m due east and 20 m due south to reach a field from his house. (a) What distance should he walk to reach the field? (b)  What is his displacement from his house to the field?

Answer:

Let ?O? be the reference point (i.e. house) and ?C? be the field. (a) Total distance travelled by the man = 50m + 40m + 20m = 110m (b) From the fig. OC represents the displacement of the man \[=O{{C}^{2}}+O{{P}^{2}}+P{{C}^{2}}=\sqrt{{{40}^{2}}+{{30}^{2}}}=\sqrt{2500}=50m\] The displacement of the man is 50m north east.