Question

A cart travels 4 meters east and then 4 meters north. How do you determine the magnitude of the cart's resultant displacement?

Answer 1

`r=4\sqrt{2}m`

Explanation:

Adjust to the bad drawing, but this is the representation of your movement. 4m eastwards and then 4 m northwards.
It is basically a right angled triangle.

The hypotenuse is the "net displacement" that you seek. Using the Pythagoras theorem, we get
`r^2=4^2+4^2=2*4^2=2*16`
So, that means `r=4\sqrt{2}m`.

Simple really.