A hungry rat is placed in a maze. It walks the following path to find a piece of cheese. 4.0m N, 7.5 m E, 6.8 m S, 3.7 m E, 3.6 m S, 5.3 m W, 3.7 m N, 5.6 m W, 4.4 m S, 4.9 m W. Calculate the distance the rat walked. Find the rat’s displacement and direction.

Explanation:

We shall take the help of vector form of displacement . Taking east as i and north as j

4.0m N = 4 j

7.5 m E = 7.5 i

6.8 m S = - 6.8 j

3.7 m E, = 3.7 i

3.6 m S = - 3.6 j

5.3 m W = - 5.3 i

3.7 m N, = 3.7 j

5.6 m W = - 5.6 i

4.4 m S = - 4.4 j

4.9 m W = -  4.9 i

Total displacement = 4j +7.5 i -6.8j+3.7i-3.6j-5.3i+3.7j-5.6i-4.4j-4.9i

= -4.6 i -7.1 j

magnitude of displacement =

= 8.46 m

Direction

Tanθ = 7.1/ 4.6

θ = 57⁰ south of west .

distance walked = 4+7.5 +6.8+3.7+3.6+5.3+3.7+5.6+4.4+4.9

= 49.5 m

Operant conditioning by Burrhus Frederick Skinner, showed that people learn to behave in certain ways because of reinforcement. This a product of a psychology school of thought, behaviorism, which comes in the notion that whatever a person behave is what matters instead of his mind, pioneered by John B. Watson. If a person wants to retain the behavior, then he will do positive reinforcements example, positive stroking. If the behavior is undesired and needs to be exterminated, then a punishment will be instilled. This is more effective if the child understands the purpose behind the punishment