displacement, in mechanics, distance moved by a particle or body in a specific direction. Particles and bodies are typically treated as point masses—that is, without loss of generality, bodies can be treated as though all of their mass is concentrated in a mathematical point. In the figure, A is the initial position of a point, B is the final position, and the straight line directed from A to B is the displacement. The distance traveled by the point depends on the path that it follows; it will be equal to the magnitude of the displacement only if the path is straight. In mechanics, it is frequently necessary to distinguish between the distance that a point moves—or through which a force acts—and the displacement of the point or the force. Displacement is a vector quantity because it has both magnitude and direction.
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