How to Calculate Distance from Speed and Time

This works out how far you travel when you hold a given speed for a given length of time. Multiply the speed by the time.

$x$ is the distance, $v$ is the speed and $t$ is the time. Speed is the distance covered in one unit of time, so multiplying by the number of time units gives the total.

Example

With a speed of 60 and a time of 2, $x = 60 \times 2 = 120$. At 60 km/h for 2 hours you cover 120 km.

Notes

The time must be expressed in the unit the speed refers to. A speed in km/h asks for a time in hours: 60 km/h for 30 minutes is $60 \times 0.5 = 30$ km, so type 0.5, not 30.

The same care applies further down the scale. A speed of 20 m/s held for 15 seconds covers $20 \times 15 = 300$ m.

The formula assumes the speed never changes. Real journeys speed up and slow down, but the same multiplication still works if you put in the average speed for the whole trip.