On an axis where moving from right to left counts as the positive direction, a student walks 32 m to the right and then 17 m to the left. What are the student's displacement and total distance?

1. Right to left is positive here, so moving right is the negative direction and moving left is positive. 2. Walking 32 m right is -32 m, and walking 17 m left is +17 m. 3. Displacement = -32 m + 17 m = -15 m. 4. Distance simply adds the path lengths regardless of sign: 32 m + 17 m = 49 m. 5. Choosing the wrong sign convention here, by treating rightward as positive, is the trap that produces +15 m instead. _Source: OpenStax Physics (CC BY 4.0), Ch 2 "Motion in One Dimension", section 2.1 Relative Motion, Distance, and Displacement_