Displacement (geometry)

Displacement
Displacement versus distance travelled along a path
Common symbols	d
SI unit	metre
In SI base units	m
Dimension	L

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Classical mechanics
${\displaystyle {\textbf {F}}={\frac {d\mathbf {p} }{dt}}}$ Second law of motion
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Core topics Damping Displacement Equations of motion Euler's laws of motion Fictitious force Friction Harmonic oscillator Inertial / Non-inertial reference frame Mechanics of planar particle motion Motion (linear) Newton's law of universal gravitation Newton's laws of motion Relative velocity Rigid body dynamics Euler's equations Simple harmonic motion Vibration
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In geometry and mechanics, a displacement is a vector whose length is the shortest distance from the initial to the final position of a point P undergoing motion.^[1] It quantifies both the distance and direction of the net or total motion along a straight line from the initial position to the final position of the point trajectory. A displacement may be identified with the translation that maps the initial position to the final position. Displacement is the shift in location when an object in motion changes from one position to another.^[2] For motion over a given interval of time, the displacement divided by the length of the time interval defines the average velocity (a vector), whose magnitude is the average speed (a scalar quantity).