A car drives 150 m to the east then backtracks 30 m to the west. Describe the mathematical operation you will use to determine the net movement of the car.

Subtraction operation

The car's displacement is  120 m west

Explanation:

Given;

first motion of the car as 150 m east

second motion of the car as 30 m west

The mathematical operation that will be used to determine the net movement of the car is subtraction operation.

The net movement of the car is the car's displacement.

Displacement is given by;

D = final position - initial position

D = 30 m - 150 m

D = - 120 m

The negative sign is direction = west ward direction

Thus, the car's displacement = 120 m west