Speed, distance and time calculators
This page contains an SI unit speed calculator, as well as calculators with the equation rearranged to make distance
and time the subject. The formulas are shown together with other useful information and examples to try. Unit
converters - miles to kilometres and so on - can be found here (opens in a new tab).
In the SI system of units speed is measured in in metres per second (m/s), distance is measured in metres, and time in
seconds.
Enter all figures without commas. For example, enter 24,600 as 24600.
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Speed in metres per second (m/s)
The equation for speed is given on the right.
Example: A car travels a distance of 5 km (3.1 miles) in a time of 8 minutes. What is its speed?
There are 5000 metres in 5 km, and there are 60 seconds in a minute, so in 8 minutes there are 60 x 8s = 480 seconds.
Putting these figures into the calculator and clicking Calculate tells us that the car was travelling at 10.42 metres per
second. Multiplying this by 3600, which is the number of seconds in one hour, shows that the speed is 37.5 km per hour
(close to 23.3 miles per hour).
Distance in metres (m)
The equation for distance is given above right.
Example: A train travels at an average speed of 142 kilometres per
hour for 43 minutes. How far did it travel?
The first thing to do is work out the speed of the train: 142 km is
142,000 metres and an hour is 3600 seconds, so the speed of the train
is 142,000 m / 3600 s = 39.44 m/s (this can be calculated using the
first calculator in this page). The time the train travels is 43 x 60 s =
2580 s. We can now input the speed (39.44 m/s) and the time (2580 s)
into the calculator to show that the train travelled a distance of 101,755
metres.
The equation for distance is:
Where:
d = distance (m)
s = speed (m/s or ms
-1
)
t = time (s)
Quick Conversion Factors
1 mile = 1.60934 kilometres
1 kilometre = 0.62137 miles
1 hour = 3600 seconds
Time in seconds (s)
The equation for time is given above right.
Example: How long does it take someone to walk 6 kilometres (about
3.7 miles) at 1.34 metres per second (about 3 miles per hour)?
In this case we simply put the numbers 6000 and 1.34 into the boxes
and click Calculate. This gives a result of 4,478 seconds.
To convert this into minutes we first divide by 60 to get 4478s / 60 =
74.63 minutes. There are 60 minutes in 1 hour, so we now have 1 hour
and 14.63 minutes. However, the .63 is a decimal and because there
are 60 seconds in a minute the final task is to multiply 0.63 by 60s =
37.8s. So the total time is close to 1 hour, 14 minutes and 38 seconds.
The equation for time is:
Where:
t = time (s)
d = distance (m)
s = speed (m/s or ms
-1
)
The equation for speed is:
Where:
s = speed (m/s or ms
-1
)
d = distance (m)
t = time (s)
calculators
Speed, distance and time
Speed, distance and time calculators
This page contains an SI unit speed calculator, as well as
calculators with the equation rearranged to make distance and
time the subject. The formulas are shown together with other
useful information and examples to try. Unit converters - miles
to kilometres and so on - can be found here (opens in a new
tab).
In the SI system of units speed is measured in in metres per
second (m/s), distance is measured in metres, and time in
seconds.
Enter all figures without commas. For example, enter 24,600 as
24600.
Advertisement
Speed in metres per second (m/s)
The equation for speed is given below.
Example: A car travels a distance of 5 km (3.1 miles) in a time
of 8 minutes. What is its speed?
There are 5000 metres in 5 km, and there are 60 seconds in a
minute, so in 8 minutes there are 60 x 8s = 480 seconds.
Putting these figures into the calculator and clicking Calculate
tells us that the car was travelling at 10.42 metres per second.
Multiplying this by 3600, which is the number of seconds in one
hour, shows that the speed is 37.5 km per hour (close to 23.3
miles per hour).
Distance in metres (m)
The equation for distance is given below.
Example: A train travels at an average speed of 142 kilometres
per hour for 43 minutes. How far did it travel?
The first thing to do is work out the speed of the train: 142 km is
142,000 metres and an hour is 3600 seconds, so the speed of
the train is 142,000 m / 3600 s = 39.44 m/s (this can be
calculated using the first calculator in this page). The time the
train travels is 43 x 60 s = 2580 s. We can now input the speed
(39.44 m/s) and the time (2580 s) into the calculator to show
that the train travelled a distance of 101,755 metres.
The equation for distance is:
Where:
d = distance (m)
s = speed (m/s or ms
-1
)
t = time (s)
Time in seconds (s)
The equation for time is given below.
Example: How long does it take someone to walk 6 kilometres
(about 3.7 miles) at 1.34 metres per second (about 3 miles per
hour)?
In this case we simply put the numbers 6000 and 1.34 into the
boxes and click Calculate. This gives a result of 4,478 seconds.
To convert this into minutes we first divide by 60 to get 4478s /
60 = 74.63 minutes. There are 60 minutes in 1 hour, so we now
have 1 hour and 14.63 minutes. However, the .63 is a decimal
and because there are 60 seconds in a minute the final task is to
multiply 0.63 by 60s = 37.8s. So the total time is close to 1 hour,
14 minutes and 38 seconds.
The equation for time is:
Where:
t = time (s)
d = distance (m)
s = speed (m/s or ms
-1
)
The equation for speed is:
Where:
s = speed (m/s or ms
-1
)
d = distance (m)
t = time (s)
Speed, distance and time
calculators
