Anthony walks to the pizza place for lunch. He walks 1 km east, then 2 km west and then 1 km east again. What distance did he cover? What was his displacement?

Answer 1

His walks cover 1km+2km+1km = 4 km.

Let East be positive. Since West is the opposite direction, it is negative. His displacement is dependent on direction. 1km east + 2km west + 1km east = (1-2+1)km = 0km. His displacement is 0 because he ends up back where he started.