What is Speed, Distance and Time Formula? (original) (raw)

Last Updated : 23 Jul, 2025

**Distance travelled describes the path covered by an object during a particular span of time. It is the total measure of the route taken by the object to move from one point to another, regardless of direction.

• The **distance traveled can be calculated using the product of the object's **velocity (or **speed) and the **time taken during the motion.
• The SI unit of distance is **meters (m).

Formulas for speed, distance, and time are as follows:

**Distance Formula

**d = v × **t

**where,

• **d = distance traveled by the object,
• **v = velocity of the object,
• **t = time taken by the object to travel the distance

**Speed Formula

**v = d/t
**where,

• **v = speed of the object
• **d = distance traveled
• **t = time taken

**Time Formula

**t = d/v
where,

• **t = time taken
• **d = distance traveled
• **v = velocity or speed of the object

**Note: In many practical situations, when direction is not considered, **speed is used instead of **velocity.

DST Triangle

One Way to easily remember Speed, Distance, and Time Formula is DST Triangle-

**Also Check,

• Time Speed Distance
• Program to calculate the distance between Two Points
• Speed, Time and Distance - Aptitude Questions

Solved Examples of Speed, Distance, and Time

**Question 1: An object travels with the velocity of 5 m/s in 5 s, find the distance travelled by the object.

**Solution:

**Given: v = 5 m/s, t = 5 s

**d = v*t
= 5*5
= 25 m

Thus, the distance travelled by the object in 5 s with a velocity of 5 m/s is 25 m.

**Question 1: Determine the distance traveled by car if the speed is 500 cm/s and the time taken is 10 s.

**Solution:

**Given: v = 500 cm/s, t = 10 s

**d = v*t
= 500*10
**= 5000 cm = 50 m

**Thus, the distance traveled by the object is 50 m.

**Question 3: Calculate the distance of a car traveling at a constant velocity of 30 m/s in 60 seconds.

**Solution:

**First calculate the distance traveled using the formula above, where v = 30m/s and t = 60s.

**d = v*t
**= 30m/s*60s
**= 1800m.

**Question 4: Calculate the speed of an object that travels 100 meters uniformly in 20 seconds.

**Solution:

**To calculate the velocity, we will use the above equation clearing v, where d = 100m and t = 20s.

**d = v*t, [ v = d/t ]
**= 100m/20s
**= 5m/s.

**Question 5: A loaded truck travels at the rate of 50 km per hour. Calculate the total time that the truck will take to travel 200 km.

**Solution:

**Given parameters are:

• **Rate of the journey, r = 50 km/hr.
• **Displacement, d = 200 km

**Displacement d = r × t
**Thus, the time taken will be given as: t = d/r
= 200/50
= 4 hrs

**Therefore, time taken is 4 hours.

**Question 6: Determine the winner if an athlete runs 250 m in 10 s time, while the other runs at 210 m in 7 s time.

**Solution:

**First athlete displacement = 250 m, and time taken = 10 s

**Thus, his rate of speed will be as per formula,

**r1= 250/10
**r1 = 25 m/s.

Displacement by the second athlete = 210 m and time taken = 7 s

**Thus, his rate of speed will be as per formula,

**r2 = 210/7
**r2 = 30 m/s.

**Therefore, the 2nd athlete wins the race.