Is distance always 0 or positive?

Distance is the absolute value of the displacement. Distance is always positive and tells how far something is from something else but does not tell us whether it is to the right or to the left. Units are important in Physics (and in all of Science).

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Is distance always positive or zero?

Distance is always positive and never becomes shorter as you travel. As displacement is a change in position relative to an object's initial location, it can be negative, positive, or zero. As a vector quantity, displacement depends on both direction and magnitude.

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Can distance be zero or negative?

Hence, distance can never be zero or negative. The distance will not decrease. A scalar quantity with only one magnitude is distance.

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Why is the distance always positive?

Distance travelled by a person is the actual length of the path travelled by the person within the given time. It is the scalar quantity that considers only the magnitude of the quantity. Since the total path travelled by a person should have a particular value, it will always be positive.

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Why is distance always negative?

Explanation: The object is always placed to the left of the lens. There is a pole in the mirror from which the distances are measured. Distances measured in the direction of the incident ray are positive and the distances measured in the direction opposite to that of the incident rays are negative.

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Positive or Negative? - Intro to Physics

20 related questions found

Why distance can never be zero?

It is a measurement of how far apart objects are. It can also be defined as the length of the path between any two points. It is a scalar quantity i.e., it takes into consideration magnitude only. The distance can only be zero when there is no movement of the object i.e., it is at rest.

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Can your distance be negative?

Hence, the distance can never be negative.

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Is distance always positive or negative?

The word distance means how far the object moves regardless of direction. It is always positive and is equal to the absolute value, or magnitude, of the displacement.

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Will distance always be positive?

Distance is the absolute value of the displacement. Distance is always positive and tells how far something is from something else but does not tell us whether it is to the right or to the left. Units are important in Physics (and in all of Science).

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Is distance always positive math?

Distances in geometry are always positive, except when the points coincide. The distance from A to B is the same as the distance from B to A. In order to derive the formula for the distance between two points in the plane, we consider two points A(a,b) and B(c,d).

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Can distance ever be zero?

Yes. For example, a car travels from point A to B and then comes back. Suppose AB=5m. In this case, distance travelled is 10m, while the displacement is zero.

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Is distance travelled zero?

No, the distance traveled by a moving body cannot be equal to zero. It is so because the actual length traveled by an object cannot be zero.

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In which case distance is negative?

Therefore, we conclude that If image is real and inverted then image distance is negative and if the image is virtual and erect then the image distance will be positive.

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Can displacement be positive negative or zero?

Displacement is a vector quantity, so we need to specify a magnitude and direction in order to fully characterize it. Unlike distance, which can only get larger on any path taken, displacement can be positive, negative, or zero. Displacement is zero when you start and end at the same spot.

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What does positive distance mean?

A positive image distance means the image is on the other side of the lens, because that's the side where the light goes. f, the focal length, is positive for a converging object (concave mirror or convex lens), and negative for a diverging object (convex mirror or concave lens).

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Can you have a positive distance but a negative displacement?

Yes, displacement can be negative. If you are moving on a straight road, you can set up a coordinate system where going forward is positive and backward is negative. Now if you move backward, your displacement will be negative.

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Can distance be zero even when displacement is not zero?

Displacement of a body can be zero even when the distance travelled is not zero.

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Can the total distance an object travels be negative?

Distance traveled is the total length of the path traveled between two positions. Distance traveled is not a vector. It has no direction and, thus, no negative sign.

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What is distance in physics?

Distance is the total movement of an object without any regard to direction. We can define distance as to how much ground an object has covered despite its starting or ending point.

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In which case distance is zero?

When an object is at rest or stationary, the distance covered is zero. In such a case, the displacement must be zero as the initial and final position is the same with respect to time.

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What does negative mean in distance?

When, if ever, does negative distance mean something? When you have a defined origin and a given direction. For example: Height above sea level. You can measure the distance of a point from that plane, the elevation of your landscape. If it dips below zero, that point has negative height (=distance).

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Which can never be negative distance or displacement?

Answer. Explanation: Actually displacement is a vector quantity and positive or negative sign with it shows its direction so distance can never be negative but displacement can.

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Why can't distance be negative?

The distance traveled by a body can never be negative as the distance is a scalar quantity. It can have two values that are it can be equal to zero, or it can be positive. The distance never decreases and cannot be negative. The acceleration of an object can be negative as it can move in the reverse direction.

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Can distance be infinite?

No, the distance between A and B can be divided into an infinite amount of 'pieces', but there is NOT an infinite amount of distance between them because each piece also gets smaller as you divide the distance into more pieces.

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Can shortest distance be zero?

Since the lines are bound to intersect at one point, The shortest distance between them would always be equal to 0.

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