# Tell me the fourmla for displacement

1. Oct 27, 2005

### killer22

okay i have a question.
if a squirrel is at 0 on inital velocity and then is at -2 at final velocity.then what is its displacement?
And i would appreciate it if someone can tell me the fourmla for displacement.

2. Oct 27, 2005

### mathmike

you need to give alot more info to be able to do this problem

disp= x_o+v_0*t+1/2at^2

3. Sep 30, 2008

### kmiller

Re: displacement

I think you would have a negative displacement you instead of going forwards went backwards your displacement would be 2. I think I have problems with physics so.....

4. Sep 30, 2008

### Mentallic

Re: displacement

Like mathmike said, you need to give a lot more information so an accurate displacement can be given, unless you are searching for displacement as a function of acceleration/time etc.

Using:

$$s=ut+\frac{1}{2}at^{2}$$ (1)

or

$$v^{2}=u^{2}+2as$$
Hence, $$s=\frac{v^{2}-u^{2}}{2a}$$ (2)

where,
s=displacement
u=initial velocity
t=time
a=acceleration

Using the information you have given, formula (1) can be simplified to:

$$s=\frac{1}{2}at^{2}$$

and formula (2) can be simplified to:

$$s=\frac{2}{a}$$

It is obvious you will at least need acceleration to find the displacement, and yes, the displacement will be negative since your final velocity (v) is negative.