On his fishing trip Justin rides in a boat 12 km south The fish aren't biting so they go 4 km west. They then follow a school of fish 1 km north. What distance did they cover? What was their displacement?

In finding the distance that covers we simply add the three km which is

12 + 4 + 1 = 17km

17 km is the distance they cover.

We are going to use the displacement formula which is

d = vt + 1/2 at^2

d = 11.7 km

11.7 is the displacement