Section 8.

Door

My chair

My desk

If I start at my chair and walk to my desk and then back to my

chair, what is my displacement? Total distance traveled?
Displacement: 8+(-8)=0
Total distance: 8+8=16

Door

My chair

My desk

If I start at my chair and walk to my desk and then to the door,

what is my displacement? Total distance traveled?
Displacement: 8+(-10)=-2
Total distance: 8+10=18
What is the significance of a positive or negative displacement?
Is total distance ever negative?

f ( x) position
f ( x) instantaneous velocity
f ( x) acceleration
Speed is the absolute value of velocity.

A honey bee makes several trips from the hive to a flower

garden. The velocity graph is shown below.
What is the total distance traveled by the bee?

200 200 200 100 700

ft
min

700 feet

200ft

200ft

minutes
200ft

100ft

What is the displacement of the bee?

200 200 200 100 100

100 feet towards the hive

ft
min

200ft

200ft

minutes
-200ft

-100ft

v (ft/sec)
4

14
t (sec)

10

-4

A turtle starts 2 feet to the left of my mailbox. Where is

the turtle at t=10?
What is the net distance traveled by the turtle?
What is the total distance traveled by the turtle?

v (m/sec)
4

2
2

15

4
t (sec)
10

-4

The velocity of a particle moving along the x-axis is given.

14 7 7
What is the displacement of the particle?
What is the total distance traveled?
14 7 21
If the particle started at x=3 when t=0, what is the position of the
particle at 10 seconds?
3 14 7 10

To find the displacement (position shift) from the velocity

function, we just integrate the function. The negative areas
below the x-axis subtract from the total displacement.
b

Displacement V t dt
a

To find distance traveled we have to use absolute value.

b

Distance Traveled V t dt
a

Find the roots of the velocity equation and integrate in pieces,

just like when we found the area between a curve and the x-axis.
(Take the absolute value of each integral.)
Or you can use your calculator to integrate the absolute value of
the velocity function.

WITH CALCULATOR
An object moves along a coordinate line with the distance to the right
considered positive. If the velocity of the object is given by

v(t ) t 2 7t 10 over the time interval 1 t 3, find the net

and total distance traveled.

Set up the problem if you wanted to know the net distance for
0 t 7.

WITHOUT CALCULATOR
An object moves along a coordinate line with the distance to the right
considered positive. If the velocity of the object is given by

v(t ) t 2 7t 10 over the time interval 1 t 3, find the net

and total distance traveled.

Find the net and total distance traveled by the moving object in the
time interval given. Note that acceleration is given.

a (t ) 2t 6, v(0) 8 ft / sec, from t 1 to t 5

The velocity of a car was read at 10 second intervals and recorded in

the table. Estimate the distance traveled by the car.
Time(sec)

10

20

30

40

50

Velocity
(ft/sec)

40

42

50

55

45

1
10 0 2(40) 2(42) 2(50) 2(55) 45
2

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