Question

How do you find the displacement of a particle that moves along a line?

Answer 1

If `p(t)` is the position function of a particle moving along a line, the displacement from `t=t_1` to `t=t_2` is `p(t_2)-p(t_1)`.

(Caution: A displacement is different from a distance traveled by a particle, which can be found by `int_{t_1}^{t_2}|p'(t)|dt`.)