Physics

Distance and displacement both describe how far something moves, but they measure different things. Distance is the total path length traveled—it only cares about how much ground you cover, never going backward. Displacement is the straight-line change from start to finish, including direction—it's a vector that can be much smaller than distance if you backtrack. Think of a round trip: you might walk 10 km total (distance), but end up back home with zero displacement.

Distance and displacement both describe how far something moves, but they measure different things. Distance is the total path length traveled—it only cares about how much ground you cover, never going backward. Displacement is the straight-line change from start to finish, including direction—it's a vector that can be much smaller than distance if you backtrack. Think of a round trip: you might walk 10 km total (distance), but end up back home with zero displacement.