Finding distance travelled

• A speed–time graph represents an object’s movement. It tells us about how its speed changes. We can also use the graph to work out how far the object travels.

  
  

• distance = area under speed–time graph , This is an important equation to find distance

• The area under any straight-line graph can be broken down into rectangles and triangles. Depending on the area the calculations give the result

• Distance travelled is the same as the shaded area under the graph. This rectangle is 20 s wide and 10 m/s high, so its area is 10 m/s × 20 s = 200 m

• Check using the equation:

  
  

  Distance travelled = speed×time10/s×20=200m

• 200 Meter is the distance