A delivery truck travels 18 blocks north, 10 blocks east, and 16 blocks south. what is its final displacement from the origin? assume the blocks are equal length.

Question

A delivery truck travels 18 blocks north, 10 blocks east, and 16 blocks south.  what is its final displacement from the origin?  assume the blocks are equal length.

My only question is

I got about 10 blocks for the displacement got a 2 opposite and 10 adjacent and had to solve for hypotenuse

my only question is that it seem very simple but isn't the direction just south?  Like you would have to find the angle using tangent inverse but isn't it just 180 degrees south of north more commonenly known as just south???

Marth · Accepted Answer

The Óx = 10 Óy = 18-16 = 2. With those values, how do you get 180 degrees south of north? arctan(2/10) = 11.3 degrees So the angle is 11.3 degrees north of east.

Physics · Answer

huh ok thanks i thought sense the end vector was south perfectly south... ok makes sense direction of displacement vector I guess is what it means by direction... Thanks!