Homework Help: Average velocity= displacement/time

1. Mar 18, 2005

jen333

Hey,

I just some clarification for kinematics:
am i correct to say that:

average velocity= displacement/time
average speed=total distance/time

?

2. Mar 18, 2005

SpaceTiger

Staff Emeritus
The difference between velocity and speed is just that velocity is a vector and speed is a scalar. That is, velocity has a direction and magnitude, while speed is just the magnitude. For example, you might say that your speed is 2 m/s, while your velocity is [2,0,0] m/s (or 2 m/s in the x direction).

3. Mar 18, 2005

Chi Meson

jen333,

Your statement is perhaps "correct enough" if you just want a general distinction between velocity and speed. As a whole what you say is not incorrect, I would rate it as incomplete if this was offered as the definitions for velocity and speed.

4. Mar 18, 2005

MathStudent

yes that is absolutely correct.

a person that runs around a circular track and stops where he began has zero average velocity but non-zero average speed.

Last edited: Mar 18, 2005