Physics Homework Help - Week 3

Problem #2 in this week's homework reads:

"You ride your bike 100 m West in 2 minutes. What is your average speed? What is your average velocity?"

Solution
Step 1 - Identify variables
distance (d) = 100 m
time (t) = 2 min
avg. speed = ?


Step 2 - Identify useful equations
avg. speed = Total distance/Total time or avg. s = Total d/Total t

Step 3 - Plug variables into equation
avg. speed = 100 m/2 min

Step 4 - Solve the equation
avg. speed = 50 m/s

The only difference between speed and velocity is that velocity has a direction.

So, if the avg. speed = 50 m/s, the avg. velocity = 50 m/s WEST

The WEST direction is found in the problem.