Question

Problem : An amusement park ride travels up and down. The vertical position of the ride in meters over time is shown below. Questions : 1. What is the displacement of the ride between 16s and 24 s? 2. What is the distance traveled by the ride between 16 s and 24 s?

Answer 1

We will have the following:

a) The displacement of the ride between 16 seconds and 24 seconds will be:

$d=-15m+6m\Rightarrow d=-9m$

So, the displacement is -9 meters.

b) The distance traveled by the ride between 16 seconds and 24 seconds is:

$d_t=|-16m|+|6m|\Rightarrow d_t=22m$

So, the distance traveled was 22 meters.