Displacement (vector)

A displacement is a vector whose length is the shortest distance from the initial to the final position of a point P. It quantifies both the distance and direction of an imaginary motion along a straight line from the initial position to the final position of the point. A displacement may be identified with the translation that maps the initial position to the final position. A displacement is a vector whose length is the shortest distance from the initial to the final position of a point P. It quantifies both the distance and direction of an imaginary motion along a straight line from the initial position to the final position of the point. A displacement may be identified with the translation that maps the initial position to the final position. A displacement may be also described as a 'relative position', that is, as the final position xf of a point relatively to its initial position xi. The corresponding displacement vector can be defined as the difference between the final and initial positions: In considering motions of objects over time, the instantaneous velocity of the object is the rate of change of the displacement as a function of time. The instantaneous speed, then, is distinct from velocity, or the time rate of change of the distance traveled along a specific path. The velocity may be equivalently defined as the time rate of change of the position vector. If one considers a moving initial position, or equivalently a moving origin (e.g. an initial position or origin which is fixed to a train wagon, which in turn moves with respect to its rail track), the velocity of P (e.g. a point representing the position of a passenger walking on the train) may be referred to as a relative velocity, as opposed to an absolute velocity, which is computed with respect to a point which is considered to be 'fixed in space' (such as, for instance, a point fixed on the floor of the train station). For motion over a given interval of time, the displacement divided by the length of the time interval defines the average velocity. (Note that the average velocity, as a vector, differs from the average speed that is the ratio of the path length — a scalar — and the time interval.) In dealing with the motion of a rigid body, the term displacement may also include the rotations of the body. In this case, the displacement of a particle of the body is called linear displacement (displacement along a line), while the rotation of the body is called angular displacement. For a position vector s {displaystyle mathbf {s} } that is a function of time t {displaystyle t} , the derivatives can be computed with respect to t {displaystyle t} . The first two derivatives are frequently encountered in physics. Velocity Acceleration Jerk