A basketball player runs a drill in which he runs the length of the 30.0 meter court and back. He does
this three times in 50.0 seconds.
30. m
(Not drawn to scale)
1. The magnitude of the player's total displacement
after running the drill is
(1) 0.0 m
(2) 30.0 m
(3) 60.0 m
(4) 180 m

(1) 0.0 m

Explanation: In physics, displacement is defined as the change in position of a moving object. It is a vector, so has magnitude and direction, determined by a referential create to the system, i.e., the moving object. Mathematically, displacement is calculated by: , in which:

For the basketball player, he runs 30m, 3 times, court and back. Assuming the initial position is 0:

= 0.0

Since displacement is given by, only, the initial and final position and the player started at the initial point and ended at the initial point of the court, displacement is 0.