So would it be comforting for me to tell you that you act like a vector!
What?!
Think about it for a moment…. We, as human beings, like to move around!
We get up in the morning, stumble into the kitchen to grab breakfast, walk/ride to class, meander from one room or building to another throughout the day, and then come home.
All of our movements can be mapped out using a series or sum of vectors, because we are going in specific directions and over specified distances!
What this lesson is all about, is seeing the power of vectors at work in the real world!
What we want to learn with this lesson is if you start at one place and travel to another through a series of movements, where do you end up?
How far away are you from your original starting point?
We begin with this question, “what is Displacement?”
Well, Displacement is nothing more than a change in position and the Displacement Vector is the distance between your starting point and stopping point.
Wait! Is displacement a vector quantity or a scalar?
Displacement is a vector that is the shortest distance from the initial to the final position, as Wikipedia accurately states.
Find the Magnitude of the net Displacement
That means, that we can use vectors and our knowledge of Triangles (both Right and Oblique) to find distances and locations all around us!
We will quickly review our understanding of Navigation by reminding ourselves of what Course, Bearing, Line of Travel and Line of Sight area, and how to find them, and then apply everything to two classic questions: hiking and sailing.
In our first question, we will assume the roles of a hiker, and set out from our campground to see the wilderness. We will be given some information as to our Course and travel, but in the end we want to find out displacement, or as Khan Academy calls it: total straight-line distance traveled.
Next, we will jump aboard a ship leaving port to travel. Once again, we will be given insights as to our direction and distance, but our objective is again, to find our displacement and also our bearing!
Vectors and Triangles are the tools we will use along the way!
Finding Displacement Vectors – Video
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