A novice golfer on the green takes three strokes to sink the ball. The successive displacements are 5.5 m to the north, 5.3 m 45◦ north of east, and 8.6 m 13◦ west of south. Starting at the same initial point, an expert (lucky) golfer could make the hole in a single displacement. What is the magnitude of this single displacement? Answer in units of m.

1 answer

All angles are measured CCW from +x-axis.

Disp. = 5.5m[90o] + 5.3m[45o] + 8.6[257].
Disp. = 5.5i + (3.75+3.75i) + (-1.93-8.38i = 1.82 + 0.87i.
Disp. = sqrt(1.82^2+0.87^2) =