Question

A car travels 35 km west and 75 km north. what distance did it travel?

Answer 1

This looks like a straight addition problem.

What is YOUR answer?

Answer 2

since they are not in opposite directions, i think we should add the two and end up getting 110. Is that correct?

Answer 3

Yes. The car traveled 110 km.

Answer 4

yes, distance is 110km. However, DISPLACEMENT is not 110km

displacement=sqrt(75^2+35^2)

and direction has to be specified with displacement.