Displacement
The motion in which all the particles of a body move through the same distance in the same time is called translatory motion. There are two types of translatory motions: rectilinear motion; curvilinear motion. Since linear motion is a motion in a single dimension, the distance traveled by an object in particular direction is the same as displacement. The SI unit of displacement is the metre. If is the initial position of an object and is the final position, then mathematically the displacement is given by:
The equivalent of displacement in rotational motion is the angular displacement measured in radian. The displacement of an object cannot be greater than the distance. Consider a person travelling to work daily. Overall displacement when he returns home is zero, since the person ends up back where he started, but the distance travelled is clearly non zero.
Read more about this topic: Linear Motion