Question

A hamster in a ball begins its journey 5 feet to the left of a refrigerator, travels 20 feet to the right of the refrigerator, and ends its journey directly in front of the refrigerator.

If negative values are assigned to positions to the left of its starting position and positive values are assigned to positions to the right of its starting position, what is the displacement of the hamster?

(1 point)
Responses

5 feet
5 feet

20 feet
20 feet

0 feet
0 feet

-5 feet

Answer 1

Let the starting position be 0. The refrigerator is 5 ft to the right, at +5. The hamster goes 20 ft to the right of the fridge to +25, then ends at the fridge at +5. Displacement = final − initial = +5 − 0 = 5 feet (to the right).