A golfer takes two putts to get his ball into
the hole once he is on the green. The first putt
displaces the ball 3.4 m east, and the second
6.55 m south.
What displacement would have been
needed to get the ball into the hole on the first putt.
answer in units of m
To find the displacement needed to get the ball into the hole on the first putt, we need to add the displacements of the first and second putts.
The first putt displaces the ball 3.4 m east, which means it moves only in the horizontal direction.
The second putt displaces the ball 6.55 m south, which means it moves only in the vertical direction.
Since the directions are perpendicular to each other, we can find the displacement needed by using the Pythagorean theorem.
According to the theorem, the square of the hypotenuse (displacement needed) is equal to the sum of the squares of the other two sides (displacement of the first putt and displacement of the second putt).
So, to find the displacement needed, we calculate:
Displacement needed = √(3.4^2 + 6.55^2)
Simplifying the equation:
Displacement needed = √(11.56 + 42.9)
Displacement needed = √54.46
Displacement needed ≈ 7.377 m
Therefore, the displacement needed to get the ball into the hole on the first putt is approximately 7.377 meters.
The displacement would have been:
3.4E+6.55S