What is the difference between distance and displacement?

Distance refers to how far an object has travelled in total during its motion.

Displacement refers to the object's overall change in position/ how far an object is now, from it's initial position.

LG
Answered by Lucy G. Maths tutor

11385 Views

See similar Maths GCSE tutors

Related Maths GCSE answers

All answers ▸

What is the area of a circle with a diameter of 3cm? (To 2 d.p.)


A is the point with coordinates (5, 9). B is the point with coordinates (d, 15). The gradient of the line AB is 3. Work out the value of d.


Jay, Sheila and Harry share £7200 in the ratio 1 : 2 : 5. How much does Harry receive?


A teacher gives her students a maths test and they receive the scores: 4, 4, 7, 3, 9, 10, 5, 8. What was the mean score of the class?


We're here to help

contact us iconContact ustelephone icon+44 (0) 203 773 6020
Facebook logoInstagram logoLinkedIn logo

MyTutor is part of the IXL family of brands:

© 2026 by IXL Learning