Solving the Displacement Problem: Find Magnitude of Total Displacement

AI Thread Summary
To solve the displacement problem, the person first walks 21m east and then 34m at a 47-degree angle north of east. The total displacement can be calculated using vector addition, where the eastward and northward components of the second leg of the journey are determined using trigonometric functions. The magnitude of the total displacement is found by drawing a straight line from the starting point to the endpoint, which represents the resultant vector. It's important to recognize that the problem involves non-right triangles, so using sine and cosine for the angle components is necessary. Properly calculating the components and applying the Pythagorean theorem will yield the correct magnitude of total displacement.
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Homework Statement


A person walks 21m east and then walks 34m at an angle 47 degrees north of east.
What is the magnitude of the total displacement?

Homework Equations





The Attempt at a Solution


I'm not sure how you would go about finding the answer:confused: Help anyone?:-p
 
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I believe this is a problem which would require some knowledge of vectors to solve. since that is the case, draw the path he take and take the starting point to be 0. To calculate the total displacement, just draw a straight line from the starting point to the endpoint.
 
I know that displacement is the distance from the starting point to the ending point, but I'm not exactly sure how I would find it in that problem. I don't think I could use the trig formulas (sin, cos, and tan) because we're not dealing with a right triangle here. (Or does it matter?) So how would I find the answer?
 
Why ain't we dealing with right angle triangle? Like I said draw the path he took
 
Okay, so I draw the path. . . . then what? :confused:Would I subtract 21m from 34m to get the displacement?
 

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