Physics Explained Through a Video Game/Calculating Displacement
Topic 1.2 - Calculating Displacement
editWe can calculate for the exact displacement of an object in a particular direction by considering the final and initial positions of an object in that direction. Then, we subtract the initial position value from the final position value to get the change in position, which is displacement.
This allows for us to quantitatively look at the change in an object's position, which will later make it possible to make clearer predictions about objects in motion.
Formula for displacement in the X (horizontal) direction:
Formula for displacement in the Y (vertical) direction:
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/9a/DisplacementVectorAddition.png/380px-DisplacementVectorAddition.png)
Question 1: Suppose that there's an in-game situation where the player Hello (colored white) wants to knock Jensen (colored grey) off the board. At a particular time in the game, Hello needs to have a of and a of in order to reach Jensen. How far does Hello need to travel in order to reach Jensen, assuming that Jensen is at the same spot when Hello arrives?
Thus, we can form a right angle triangle that is outlined by and its components. Because of the Pythagorean Theorem where where a and b are components and c is , we can show that:
Note that any displacement can either be positive or negative, depending on what is convenient for the situation. In this case, because we are looking for the magnitude of distance between Hello and Jensen, we can allow for to be positive such that: (using 1 significant figure).
- ↑ "Significant Figures". Science Olympiad Student Center. April 3, 2014. Retrieved July 26, 2024.