Kinematics is measured in a variety of forms, with terms regarding space including position, displacement, distance, velocity, speed, and acceleration.
In this section I will explain the nuances of each term, and an understanding of each is necessary to understand kinematics.
Position stands for where something is at any given time. In physics, everything has a reference point, and a position is in relation to a certain reference point. In simple terms, a teacher could be standing 5 feet away in reference to a whiteboard.
Displacement is the change in the position of an object, so that teacher walking 5 feet to the right would be displaced 5 meters right. The formula for finding displacement is the final position minus the initial position. Thus, Displacement merely measures how much something has moved between one position to another.
Distance is the magnitude or size of displacement between two positions, and is the total length of the path traveled between two positions. Thus, somebody could move back and forth across 5 feet 3 times, and move a distance of 15 feet, but only be displaced 5 feet.