Frames & History
He first proposed the coordinate plane.
Descartes
How far an object has actually traveled along its path.
Distance
Displacement divided by the time interval.
Velocity
Change of velocity in a given time interval.
Acceleration
Another name for that coordinate plane.
The Cartesian plane
The change in position from start to finish, straight-line.
Displacement
Velocity is this kind of quantity.
A vector
Acceleration is this kind of quantity.
A vector
A coordinate system with a chosen origin and scale.
A frame of reference
Displacement can have these two extra values that distance cannot.
Zero or negative
Speed is this kind of quantity.
A scalar
Constant acceleration due to gravity.
Free fall
He pictured a fish, a fly, and a drop of water on a moving ship.
Galileo
Magellan sailed around the world; this quantity for the trip was zero.
Displacement
The velocity at one particular point on a graph.
Instantaneous velocity
On a velocity-versus-time graph, the slope is this.
Acceleration