A hamster in a ball begins its journey 5 feet to the left of a refrigerator, travels 20 feet to the right of the refrigerator, and ends its journey directly in front of the refrigerator.
If negative values are assigned to positions to the left of its starting position and positive values are assigned to positions to the right of its starting position, what is the displacement of the hamster?
The hamster starts 5 feet to the left of the refrigerator. Since negative values are assigned to positions to the left, its starting position is -5 feet.
It then travels 20 feet to the right of the refrigerator. Since positive values are assigned to positions to the right, the hamster's position after this part of the journey is +20 feet.
It ends its journey directly in front of the refrigerator, which can be considered as position 0 feet.
To find the displacement, we need to calculate the difference between the final position and the starting position.
Displacement = Final position - Starting position = (0) - (-5) = 0 + 5 = 5 feet.
Therefore, the displacement of the hamster is 5 feet.
To find the displacement of the hamster, we need to calculate the overall change in position from its starting point to its ending point.
Given that the hamster starts 5 feet to the left of the refrigerator, we assign a negative value to its starting position.
It then travels 20 feet to the right of the refrigerator. Since positive values are assigned to positions to the right, we can represent this as +20.
Finally, the hamster ends its journey directly in front of the refrigerator. Since the front of the refrigerator is neither to the left nor to the right of its starting position, we can represent this as 0.
To find the displacement, we add all these values together:
Displacement = (-5) + (+20) + 0
= -5 + 20 + 0
= 15 feet
Therefore, the displacement of the hamster is 15 feet.
To find the displacement of the hamster, we need to calculate the net change in its position, considering both the direction and magnitude of its movement.
1. Assigning values:
We assign negative values to the positions to the left of the starting position and positive values to the positions to the right of the starting position.
Starting position: -5 feet
Final position: 0 feet (in front of the refrigerator)
Movement to the right: 20 feet
2. Calculate the displacement:
To find the displacement, we subtract the initial position from the final position. Since the final position is positive, we subtract a negative number.
Displacement = Final position - Initial position
Displacement = 0 feet - (-5 feet)
Displacement = 0 feet + 5 feet
Displacement = 5 feet
Therefore, the displacement of the hamster is 5 feet to the right.