Marco walked from his home to his friend’s house, following the sidewalks along the way. Which quantity best describes how far he walked along the sidewalks to get there?

position
speed
distance
displacement

1 answer

The quantity that best describes how far Marco walked along the sidewalks to get to his friend’s house is distance.

Distance is a scalar quantity that measures the total path length traveled, regardless of direction, while displacement is a vector quantity that measures the straight line from the starting point to the endpoint, considering direction. Since Marco is walking and you are looking to quantify how far he traveled, "distance" is the appropriate choice.