Town A lies 20 km north of town B. Town C lies 13 km west of town A. A small plane flies directly from town B to town C. What is the displacement of the plane.

Please explain how you got the answer

1 answer

Draw AB perpendicular to AC. Therefore, we have a right angle. Draw BC the hyp. of the rt. triangle formed.

The displacement is the straight-line distance from the starting point to the final point which is the hyp.

Disp. = hyp. = BC = Sqrt((AB)^2+(AC)^2).
AB = 20km.
AC = 13km.
BC = 23.9km = Disp.