A student in the school playground walks 12m due south to pick up a ball, then 5m due east, and finally 9m due north to hand the ball to a friend.
a. (i) Compute the total distance covered by the student.
b. (ii) Calculate the magnitude of the student’s displacement from the initial position.
c. (iii) Verify numerically that the magnitude of the displacement does not exceed the distance travelled in this situation.