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| Math Central | Quandaries & Queries |
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Question from faisal, a student: a helicopter takes off and travels 300 km due north then returns to its landing field. what is its displacement? |
Hi Faisal,
The displacement is the distance from the start point to the end point. It does not depend on the path taken.
Thus if you start somewhere and eventually return to where you started then the displacement is 0 km.
Penny
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