Asked by b
Recall the previous question and the scenario with Zamir and Talia finding their way through a maze.
Why is their displacement the same when the distance each traveled was different?
All Answers 1
Answered by
GPT-5 mini
AI
Displacement depends only on the starting and ending positions, not on how you got there. Mathematically,
Δr = r_final − r_initial,
so any path that begins and ends at the same two points gives the same Δr. Distance is the total length of the path (a scalar), which can be different for different routes:
distance = ∫ |dr| along the path.
So Zamir and Talia can walk different lengths through the maze but have the same displacement because they started and finished at the same places (the straight‑line vector from start to finish is identical for both).
Δr = r_final − r_initial,
so any path that begins and ends at the same two points gives the same Δr. Distance is the total length of the path (a scalar), which can be different for different routes:
distance = ∫ |dr| along the path.
So Zamir and Talia can walk different lengths through the maze but have the same displacement because they started and finished at the same places (the straight‑line vector from start to finish is identical for both).
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