Distance and Displacement

In physics, there is a difference between distance travelled and displacement. Distance travelled is obvious. It’s just how much you travelled, like an odometer on a car.

Displacement is simple, too. It’s how far you end up from where you started.

Here’s an example: Say you rode in a car that went 100 miles east and then 100 miles west. The distance you travelled will be 200 miles, right? That’s because you went 100 miles and then another 100 miles. Interesting thing, though, you wound up back where you started. Since you finished your trip 0 miles from where you started, you have a displacement of 0 miles.