What is the displacement covered by the man and bouncing ball?

[Misr]

Hello there ,
http://www.zshare.net/image/73581857700fb471/

If I am asked about the displacement covered by the man in this case , so should I write the vertical distance covered by the man (15 m) or the horizontal one (30 m) ??or they both work??
And why??
My question is the same for a rebounding ball
Thanks

 

[DavidSullivan]

The displacement in this case is the length of the hypotenuse of the triangle in the picture. Given the angle (30 deg.) and the vertical displacement (15m) you can find the total displacement.

Here's a good overview if you don't understand displacement: http://physics.info/displacement/

-David

 

[Misr]

The displacement in this case is the length of the hypotenuse of the triangle in the picture. Given the angle (30 deg.) and the vertical displacement (15m) you can find the total displacement.

Yeah I got this
but if we have a bouncing ball like this :
http://www.zshare.net/image/736726542f10869f/
the ball fall freely from a point to the ground then re-bounced again and again till it stopped on the surface of earth.
So Should the displacement be AB or AC?

Thanks

 

[Doc Al]

The displacement goes from initial position to final position.

 

[DavidSullivan]

Yeah I got this
but if we have a bouncing ball like this :
http://www.zshare.net/image/736726542f10869f/
the ball fall freely from a point to the ground then re-bounced again and again till it stopped on the surface of earth.
So Should the displacement be AB or AC?

Thanks

A to B - like Doc said, its the distance between the initial and final positions. All the bounces can be ignored.

-David

 

[Misr]

Yes I got it
thanks