in this video we're going to focus on

distance

displacement average speed and average

velocity

but let's start with a number line so

you can see

the difference between the two

so let's start at position

negative three and if we travel

to a final position of two what is the

distance

traveled and what is the displacement

the distance traveled is simply 5 units

we traveled five units to the right

now what about the displacement the

displacement is also five

in this case whenever you move to the

right and if you don't change the

direction

the distance and the displacement is the

same

i'm going to use d for distance and

delta x

to represent displacement now

let's say if we start at

position four

and we're traveling to

position negative two what is the

distance

and what is the displacement in order to

find the displacement

it's basically the change in x it's the

final position minus the initial

position

the final position is negative two

that's where we stop that's the end

position we started

at four so that's the initial position

so it's negative two

minus the initial position of four

so the displacement is negative six

displacement is a vector it can be

positive or it can be negative

direction is important but now what is

the distance that we traveled

the distance is always a positive value

we traveled six units to the left so

when describing distance

distance is a scalar quantity it's

always positive

but displacement can be positive or

negative

so anytime you travel towards the right

displacement is positive if you travel

towards the left displacement is

negative

but distance is always positive

regardless if you're moving to the right

or to the left
now let's say if we started at negative

four

and we travel to position five

and then after that we travel from

position five

to position negative two

what is the distance traveled by the

object or the particle and what is the

displacement

so let's calculate the distance first we

traveled

from negative four to five that's nine

units to the right

and then we travel from five to negative

two that's seven units to the left

to find the distance you simply add

those values so we traveled a total

of sixteen units now to find the

displacement

there's two ways we can do that

we could use the equation it's the final

position minus the initial position

so the final position is negative two

the initial position was negative four

so it's negative two minus

negative four which is the same as

negative two

plus four whenever you have two negative

signs next to each other

you can make it a positive sign so

therefore it's positive 2.

so the distance traveled is 16 units but

the displacement

is only positive 2 units and it makes

sense

because we started at negative 4

and then we ended at negative two so the

net effect is we only travel

two units to the right if you just

compare the start and the

the finish where you started where you

ended

so that's our net that's the

displacement

it's just the distance between the final

position and the initial position

now let's break it up into two parts

the displacement for the first part is

positive nine

because we traveled nine units to the

right the displacement

for the second part is negative seven

because we traveled seven units to left

if you add those two numbers positive

nine

and negative 7 you get the net

displacement of positive 2

which is what we have now if you want to

calculate the distance

you simply make these two numbers

positive instead of using negative 7 you

use positive 7 so 9 plus 7

will give you this value 16. so

hopefully this helps you to distinguish

distance from displacement so let's say

if a car travels 10 miles

east and then

six miles west calculate

the distance and the displacement of the

vehicle

so if you want to calculate the distance

simply add the two numbers

and make it positive so it's just going

to be 10 plus 6

so the total distance traveled is 16

miles

now if you want to find the displacement

you need to

do it this way when the car travels 10

miles to the right

the displacement is positive and then

when it travels six months to the left

it's negative so you add these values 10

plus negative six

so then that displacement is four miles

to the right

so the vehicle it started at this point

but then it ended

at this point so the net result is that

it traveled

four miles to the right and so that's

the

the net displacement of the vehicle

now let's say if a person

walks three miles east

and then four miles north

calculate the distance and the net

displacement traveled by the person

so to find the total distance you simply

need to just add everything

he traveled three miles east and four

miles north

so he traveled a total distance of three

plus four or seven miles

now to find the displacement

we need to find the distance between

where he started and where he ended

so this is where he started and this is

his finish point or where he ended

so we got to find the direct distance

between those two points and that's

going to give us the displacement

so let's call it delta x the

displacement

you can call it something else if you

want you can call it s or delta y

but you know what since we're not

traveling in the x direction we're also

traveling in the y direction let's just

call it

what we need to do is use the

pythagorean theorem

so in this case we know that c squared

the hypotenuse is equal to a squared

plus b squared

so s squared is going to be three

squared

plus four squared so that's going to be

nine plus 16

which adds up to 25

and so the displacement is going to be

the square root of 25 or five

so the net effect is that the person

traveled five miles

in that direction even though he

actually walked a distance

of seven miles

so keep in mind the displacement is the

distance between your final position

and the initial position now let's work

on some problems

an object moves from position negative 8

to 12 and then to position negative 20.

what is the total distance traveled by

the object and what is the displacement

so for these problems feel free to pause

the video and work it out yourself

and then unpause it to see if you have

the right answer so let's go ahead and

begin

so we're going to start at negative 8

and then the object travels from a

position of negative 8

to 12.

so how far did the object traveled

at this time

let's find the displacement just for the

first part of the trip

to find the displacement it's the final

position

minus the initial position so the final

position is 12

just for the first part minus an initial

position of negative eight

twelve minus negative eight is the same

as twelve plus eight

so right now the object traveled a

distance of

twenty meters to the right

now what about the second part of the

trip

how far the object traveled at that

point

so the object starts at position 12 and

then moves

towards position negative 20 which

should be somewhere

over there

so let's calculate the displacement just

for the second part of the trip

so using the same formula delta x is

x final minus x initial

so for the second part the final

position is negative 20

minus the initial position of positive

twelve

so that's negative twenty minus twelve

which is negative thirty two

the negative value means that the object

is moving towards the left

so now how can we use this information

to find the total distance

and the net displacement for the entire

trip

so to find the total distance simply

make everything positive

he traveled 20 meters to the right and

then 32 meters to the left

so when dealing with distance everything

is positive

so he traveled or the object rather

traveled

a total distance of 52 meters is 20

plus 32 distance is always positive now

if you want to find the net displacement

for the entire trip during the first

part

it's positive 20. and during the second

part

it's negative 32 so you got to

incorporate the negative sign

so it's 20 minus 32 which is negative

12.

so the displacement is negative 12 but

the total distance traveled

is 52. now

you can also find the displacement using

this formula

the initial position for the entire trip

starts at negative eight

the final position for the entire trip

ends at negative 20.

so this can give us the net displacement

for everything rather than just breaking

up into two parts

so the final position is negative 20

minus the initial position of negative

eight

so this is negative twenty plus eight

which turns out to be negative twelve

so there's many different ways that you

can employ to calculate the net

displacement

of the object number two

sally travels 50 meters west

and then 120 meters south how far did

sally travel

and what is her net displacement so go

ahead and try this problem

so let's draw a picture so let's say she

started here

she traveled 50 meters west

and then 120 meters south

if you recall this is east this is west

this is north and this is south

so this is where she started and this is

her final position

so therefore if we draw a line from

start to finish

the length of that line will represent

her net displacement

which we can call

delta s but let's find the total

distance first

so she traveled 50 meters west and then

120 meters south

so it's 50 plus 120 so her total

distance

is 170 meters that's how far she

actually traveled

now to find the displacement we just

need to find the length

of the hypotenuse of the triangle

so delta s squared is going to be a

squared plus b squared or 50 squared

plus

120 squared

so 50 squared that's 50 times 50 that's

twenty five hundred

and a hundred twenty times 120

is fourteen thousand four hundred so if

we add these two numbers

this is gonna give us a hundred and

sixty nine thousand

i mean sixteen thousand nine hundred

so now let's take the square root of

both sides

the square root of sixteen thousand nine

hundred is a hundred and thirty

so that is sally's net displacement

that's the distance between her initial

position

and her final position

and so that's the answer for part b

let's work on number three megan walks

100 meters east and then travels 70

meters north followed by

140 meters east calculate the total

distance and net displacement

so c travels 100 meters east

and then she's going to travel 70 meters

north

and then 140 meters east

so to find the total distance we just

need to add the numbers

100 plus 70 plus 140

70 plus 140 that's 210 plus 100

that's 310. so that's the total distance

traveled by megan

now to find the net displacement let's

draw a line

from her initial position to her final

position

how can we find that distance

so what i'm going to do is i'm going to

redraw it

i'm going to draw this vector first and

this one right after it

so this problem is equivalent to this

problem let's say if she traveled 100

meters east

and then another 140 meters east

and then 70 meters north

now notice that we have a right triangle

our goal

is to find the length of this green line

which we can call delta s

so if we add these two numbers 100 plus

140

that's 240 going east

and then 70 going north so now we could

use the pythagorean theorem

so delta s is going to be the square

root
of 70 squared plus

240 squared and you could type it in

exactly the way you see it

in your calculator

so you should get 250

that is her net displacement that's the

distance

from the initial position to her final

position

it's 250 meters in that direction

here's another example jared

walks 120 meters east

and then 150 meters south

and then 40 meters west

let's start by finding the total

distance

so all we need to do is add 120

plus 150 plus 40.

120 plus 150 that's 270 plus 40

so that's 310 meters traveled so it's

very simple to find a total distance you

just got to add the numbers

now we got to find the displacement

which is the distance between

the initial and the final position

so how long is the blue line

so here's what we're going to do we need

to turn this into a triangle

so if he traveled 120 meters east

and then 40 meters west in the x

direction

his net displacement is only 80 meters

to the right

so this is positive 120 and this is

negative 40 in the x direction

if you add those two that's going to

give you positive 80 in the x direction

in the y direction there's only one

number 150

so we can't do anything with that

so now we could find the hypotenuse

so the displacement is going to be the

square root

of a squared plus b squared or 80

squared

plus 150 squared

so if you type that in exactly the way

you see it this should give you

170. it's based on the 8 15 17 right

triangle

so that's the net displacement of jared

it's helpful to know the special right

triangles because if you know them

you can quickly solve certain

pythagorean theorem related problems

the first one is the 345 right triangle

so if you see another triangle where

this is 30 and this is 40

you know the missing side has to be 50.

so there's a 345 right triangle

there's the 5 12 13 triangle

so this is 50 and this is 120 the

missing side is

the next one is the 8 15 17 right

triangle

and then the 7 24 25 by triangle

those are the most common ones that you

may encounter some

other rare ones you might see is the 9

40

41 triangle and the 11 60 61.

other than that i doubt you'll see

anything else but you can see

any ratio of these numbers for example

the three four five triangle if you

multiply by two

you'll get the six eight ten triangle so

this is sixty and this is eighty

the missing side is a hundred so if you

know these numbers

then you could solve a lot of common

right triangle problems

quickly now let's talk about the

difference between

average speed and average velocity as

well as how to calculate them

now keep in mind speed is a scalar

quantity
it has magnitude only and no direction

velocity is a vector quantity it has

both

magnitude and direction so velocity is

basically speed

with direction now if you want to

calculate average speed

we'll indicate average with a bar on top

of the s

average speed is equal to the total

distance traveled

divided by the total time

average velocity is equal to the

displacement

divided by the time

so displacement is a vector therefore

velocity will be a vector

distance is a scalar quantity so speed

will also be scalar as well

now speed that is instantaneous speed

is the absolute value of velocity so

what this means is that

speed will always be positive velocity

can be positive or negative

dependent on the direction so for

instance let's say if

karen is traveling at a speed of 30

miles per hour

east

karen's speed is 30.

her velocity is 30 miles per hour

east the units are the same

so as you can see velocity is speed with

direction

now let's say jim is traveling

at a speed of 40 miles per hour west

so his speed at that instant

is positive 40 miles per hour so in both

cases

if a person is traveling east or west

the speed is positive

now because this person is going in the

negative x direction

the velocity will not be positive the

velocity

is negative so his velocity is negative

40 miles per hour

in the direction west

so as you can see speed is always

positive but velocity can be positive or

negative

depending on where a person is going so

make sure you understand that concept

now let's work on some practice problems

a car travels a distance of 300 miles in

six

hours what is the average speed of the

car

so we could use this formula the average

speed is going to be the distance

traveled

divided by the time

so the distance is 300 miles

the time is 6 hours

what's 300 divided by 6 well we know

that 30 divided by 6

is 5 so 300 divided by 6 is 50.

so we get 50 miles per hour

or we can write as 50 mph

so that's it for number one that's how

you can calculate

the average speed and you can get the

units

by looking at the units of distance in

time

let's go ahead and solve these two

problems a car

travels at an average speed of 40 feet

per second

how many miles will it travel in five

hours

so we could use the formula d is equal

to rt

distance equals rate times time or

d equals vt where v is the rate

average speed average velocity so it's

the

it will lead to the same answer

regardless of which of those two

formulas you decide to use

but let's write down what we know

so we know the average speed is 40 feet

per second

we know the time is 5 hours

our goal is to calculate the distance

now we don't want to plug it in

into that formula right now because the

units

they don't match

so what should we do here we want the

distance

in miles and we have the time in hours

so in order for the units to match we

need to convert the average speed from

feet per second

to miles per hour and then we could plug

everything into the formula

so let's go ahead and do that so we have

40 feet

per second the first thing you need to

be familiar with is the conversion

between miles and feet

one mile is 5280 feet

so i'm going to put the unit feet on the

bottom

and one mile on top so that the unit

feet will cancel

now let's convert seconds into minutes

there's 60 seconds

in one minute and so we could

cross out the unit seconds

and there's 60 minutes in a single hour

so that's how we can convert from feet

per second

to miles per hour now let's go ahead and

plug this in so it's 40

divided by 5280 times 60 times 60.

so the new value of v is 27.27 repeating

miles per hour

so now let's go ahead and calculate the

distance the distance is going to be the

speed multiplied by the time

so v is 27

point we have miles on top

hours on the bottom and then we're going

to multiply by t which is

5 hours so we can see that the unit

hours will cancel

so 27.27 repeating times five

that's 136.36 repeating

miles

so that's how many miles this car will

travel in

five hours

now let's move on to part b

a train is moving at 45 kilometers per

hour

how long will it take for the train to

travel a distance of 20 miles

so let's write down what we know we know

the distance

is 20 miles how long

so we're looking for the time

and we're given the speed it's 45

kilometers per hour

now we can change the speed from

kilometers per hour to miles per hour

or we could change the distance from

miles to kilometers

we can do it both ways but the key is

that these two they need to match

so this time let's change the distance

the conversion between miles and

kilometers is this one mile

is 1.609 kilometers

you can look this up online as well

so it's 20 times 1.609

and that gives us a distance of 32.8

kilometers

so now let's go ahead and use this

formula d is equal to vt

we need to isolate t to do that let's

divide both sides by v

so time is the distance

over average speed

so this train is going to travel a

distance of 32.18 kilometers

and its average speed is 45 kilometers

per hour

so we can see the unit kilometers will

cancel and the time is going to come out

in hours

so 32.18 divided by

45. this is

0.7151 repeating

hours now if we multiply this by

60 minutes per hour we can get the

answer in minutes

which we could say it's approximately

42.9 minutes

so that's how we could find the time if

we know the distance and the average

speed

you