A newspaper carrier on delivery route travels 200.-m South-West and 300.-m West. What is the magnitude of the displacement?
To find the magnitude of the displacement, we need to find the total distance covered by the newspaper carrier in a straight line from the starting point to the end point.
In this case, the newspaper carrier travels 200 m south-west and 300 m west.
To find the resultant displacement, we can create a right-angled triangle with the sides representing the distances traveled in the south-west and west directions. The hypotenuse of this triangle represents the displacement.
Using the Pythagorean theorem:
h^2 = (200 m)^2 + (300 m)^2
h^2 = 40000 m^2 + 90000 m^2
h^2 = 130000 m^2
Taking the square root of both sides:
h = √(130000 m^2)
h ≈ 360.56 m
Therefore, the magnitude of the displacement is approximately 360.56 meters.