Position is the distance and direction from a convenient reference point in space and time to an interesting point in space and time. Position is a special displacement. Position is specific; distance and displacement are general. Distance and displacement require one to clearly state "from what" and "to what." If the "from what" is a reference point, then the displacement is a position and should be called a position. I have two requests.
Thank you.
2 Comments
DandelionJoy
9/16/2016 20:43:07
Yessss! I, too, am sick and tired of dragging my students through "distance vs. displacement" during the first week of class. Such a waste of time. It's tedious to begin with and useless as well. There are so many more interesting and useful things we could spend time on!
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PhysicsTeacher1
9/16/2016 20:52:37
It's on standardized tests.
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