Video Transcript
Which dashed arrow shows the
direction of the red arrow? (A) The blue dashed arrow. (B) The orange dashed arrow. (C) The green dashed arrow. (D) None of the dashed arrows; the
red arrow does not have a single direction as its direction changes along its
length.
This question asks us which of the
dashed arrows points in the same direction as the red arrow. Now, this is actually a bit of a
trick question. At different points in the red
arrow’s path, the blue, orange, and green dashed arrows point in that direction. But this is not what the question
is asking us for. And no one arrow points exactly
along the same path as the red arrow. First, let’s look at the orange
arrow. At the tail of the red arrow, both
the red and the orange arrow have the same direction, to the right. However, the direction of the red
arrow then changes, as it follows a curved path. The orange arrow shows the initial
direction of the red arrow, but not the overall direction.
Next, let’s look at the green
arrow. The green arrow is a straight line,
starting at the tail of the red arrow and ending at the tip of the red arrow. The green arrow therefore shows the
overall displacement that the red arrow covers from start to finish. However, the green and red arrows
each follow very different paths between the same two start and endpoints. The green arrow is straight, while
the red arrow is curved. This means that they don’t have the
same direction at all points.
Finally, the blue arrow points in
the same direction as the head of the red arrow. However, this direction is not the
same as the direction of the red arrow at other points along its length. The blue arrow shows the final
direction of the red arrow, not the overall direction.
In conclusion, we see that though
all three dashed arrows do at some point have the same direction as the red arrow,
none have the same direction at all points along the red arrow’s length. A curved arrow doesn’t have a
single direction because its direction is different at different points along its
length. That means that its direction
cannot be represented by a single straight arrow. Therefore, the correct answer is
option (D). None of the dashed arrows shows the
direction of the red arrow.
