Question

a student walks a straight path south to school each morning. the total distance to the school is 400 meters. one morning, as the student was halfway to school, she realized she had forgotten her laptop and walked back home to get it. she then completed her walk to school. image of a line from home to school, labeled 400 m, with a 200 m mark in the middle choose the correct answer from each drop-down menu to complete the sentence. in this scenario, the student’s total distance walked is drop-down, while her displacement is drop-down south.

Explanation:

Step1: Calculate distance walked

The student first walks halfway to school: $\frac{400}{2} = 200$ meters. Then she walks back home (another 200 meters) and then walks to school (400 meters). So total distance is $200 + 200 + 400 = 800$ meters.

Step2: Determine displacement

Displacement is the straight - line distance from the starting point to the ending point. The student starts at home and ends at school, which is 400 meters south. So displacement is 400 meters south.

Answer:

For the first drop - down (total distance walked): 800 meters
For the second drop - down (displacement): 400 meters