Displacement is a vector quantity that describes the change in position of an object from its initial to its final position. It is the shortest distance between the initial and final positions, and it has both magnitude and direction. The magnitude of the displacement is the length of the vector, and the direction of the displacement is the angle that the vector makes with a reference axis.

In contrast to distance, which is a scalar quantity that only describes the length of the path traveled, displacement takes into account the direction of the movement. For example, if you walk 10 meters north and then 10 meters south, your distance traveled is 20 meters, but your displacement is 0 meters because you end up in the same position as you started.