Calculate the Displacement of an Airplane

Calculating the Displacement

Answer: The displacement of the airplane is 8.6 km.

Explanation: To calculate the displacement, we use the Pythagorean theorem with the given distances. The theorem states that in a right triangle, the square of the hypotenuse is equal to the sum of the squares of the other two sides. In this case, the airplane first travels 5.0 km due east, and then 7.0 km due north.

We can represent this as follows:

d² = 5² + 7²

d = sqrt(74) km

Therefore, the airplane's displacement is 8.6 km in the north-east direction.