Question 1

Figure to be added

Three routes from A to B: route P (320 m long), route Q (200 m) and route R (240 m). The straight line from A to B is marked with a dashed arrow, 160 m due east.

A child travels from A to B along route P. What are the distance travelled and the displacement, in that order?

The right answer is the one marked above.

Distance 320 m, displacement 160 m east. The distance is the length of the path actually taken — the length of route P, which is 320 m.

Displacement depends only on where the journey starts and where it ends. Whichever route the child takes, they finish 160 m due east of A in a straight line. So routes Q and R give the very same displacement; only the distance changes.