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In geometry and mechanics, a displacement is a vector whose length is the shortest distance from the initial to the final position of a point P undergoing motion. [1] It quantifies both the distance and direction of the net or total motion along a straight line from the initial position to the final position of the point trajectory .
In geometry, a position or position vector, also known as location vector or radius vector, is a Euclidean vector that represents a point P in space. Its length represents the distance in relation to an arbitrary reference origin O , and its direction represents the angular orientation with respect to given reference axes.
Position space (also real space or coordinate space) is the set of all position vectors r in Euclidean space, and has dimensions of length; a position vector defines a point in space. (If the position vector of a point particle varies with time, it will trace out a path, the trajectory of a particle.)
Trajectory of a particle with initial position vector r 0 and velocity v 0, subject to constant acceleration a, all three quantities in any direction, and the position r(t) and velocity v(t) after time t. The initial position, initial velocity, and acceleration vectors need not be collinear, and the equations of motion take an almost identical ...
Consequently, the acceleration is the second derivative of position, [7] often written . Position, when thought of as a displacement from an origin point, is a vector: a quantity with both magnitude and direction. [9]: 1 Velocity and acceleration are vector quantities as well. The mathematical tools of vector algebra provide the means to ...
Vectors also describe many other physical quantities, such as linear displacement, displacement, linear acceleration, angular acceleration, linear momentum, and angular momentum. Other physical vectors, such as the electric and magnetic field, are represented as a system of vectors at each point of a physical space; that is, a vector field ...
[4] [5] [6] A kinematics problem begins by describing the geometry of the system and declaring the initial conditions of any known values of position, velocity and/or acceleration of points within the system. Then, using arguments from geometry, the position, velocity and acceleration of any unknown parts of the system can be determined.
In mechanics, a displacement field is the assignment of displacement vectors for all points in a region or body that are displaced from one state to another. [1] [2] A displacement vector specifies the position of a point or a particle in reference to an origin or to a previous position.