The formula for calculating average speed is straightforward: it is the total distance traveled divided by the total time taken for that journey.

To determine average speed, you need two essential pieces of information: the total distance traveled and the total time taken to traverse that distance. The formula can be expressed as follows:

This means that you take the total distance covered during your journey and divide it by the total time it took to cover that distance. For example, if you traveled $150$ kilometres in $3$ hours, your average speed would be calculated as:

It’s crucial to ensure that the units for distance and time are consistent. If the distance is measured in kilometres and the time in hours, the average speed will be expressed in kilometres per hour (km/h). Alternatively, if the distance is measured in metres and the time in seconds, the average speed will be in metres per second (m/s).

Understanding average speed is beneficial in various real-life scenarios, such as planning travel times or evaluating vehicle performance. It provides a simple method to quantify how fast something is moving on average, even if the speed fluctuates during the journey. Keep in mind that average speed does not account for variations in speed throughout the trip; it is a straightforward calculation that yields an overall rate of travel.