SPEED DISTANCE AND TIME

UNITS OF MEASUREMENT Time is measured in seconds (s), minutes (min) or hours (hr).

Distance is usually measured in meters (m), kilometres (km), miles, yards or feet.

Speed is usually measured in meters per second (mps), kilometres per hour (kmph) or miles per hour
(mph).

CONVERSION OF UNITS

1 hour = 60 minutes = 60×60 seconds.

1 kilometre = 1000 meters.

1 kilometre = 0.6214 mile.

1 mile = 1.609 kilometre.

I.e.8 kilometres ≈5 miles.

1 yard = 3 feet.

To convert kmph to m/s we multiply by 5/18 m

To convert m/s to kmph we multiply by 18/5 km

Note: If a man changes his speed in the ratio m: n, then the ratio of time taken becomes n: m

Average Speed = 2𝑥𝑦/𝑥 + 𝑦 where x km/hr is a speed for certain distance and y km/hr is a speed at
for same distance covered
Type 1

A man covers a distance of 600m in 2min 30sec. What will be the speed in km/hr?

A boy travelling from his home to school at 25 km/hr and came back at 4 km/hr. If whole journey
took 5 hours 48 min. find the distance of home and school.

A person travels four equal distances of 3km each at a speed of 10 km/hr, 20 km/hr, 30 km/hr and
60 km/hr respectively. Find his average speed for the whole journey is.

One-third of a certain journey is covered at a rate of 40 km/hr one-fourth at the rate of 30 km/hr
and the rest at 25 km/hr. The average speed for the whole journey is.

Two men start from opposite ends A and B of a linear track respectively and meet at point 60m from
A. If AB= 100m. What will be the ratio of speed of both men?

A man on tour travels first 160 km at 60 km/hr and the next 160 km at 40 km/hr. The average speed
for the first 320 km of the tour is?

A man completes 30 km of a journey at the speed of 6 km/hr and the remaining 40 km of the
journey in 5 hours. His average speed for the whole journey is.
Type 2

Walking at a speed of 5 km/hr, a man reaches his office 6 minutes late. Walking at 6 km/hr,
he reaches there 2 minutes early. The distance of his office is.

A person covers a distance of 840 km with a constant speed when he increases a speed by
10 km/hr. He takes 2 hours less time find the original speed.

An aeroplane started its journey half hour late to cover a distance of 1500 km on time it
increases its speed by 250 km/hr find its original speed.

Type 3 Trains

A train, 110 m long, travels at 60 kmph. How long does it take to cross?

1) A telegraph post?

2) A man running at 6 kmph in the same direction?

3) A man running at 6 kmph in the opposite direction?

4) A platform 240 m long?

5) Another train 170 m long, standing on another parallel track?

6) Another train 170 m long, running at 54 kmph in same direction?

7) Another train 170 metre long, running at 80 kmph in opposite direction?

A train 300 meters long is running at a speed of 54 km/hr. In what time will it cross a telephone
pole?

A train traveling at a speed of 30m/sec crosses a platform 600 meters long in 30 seconds. The length
of the train is.

A train passes two persons walking in the same direction at a speed of 3 km/hour and 5 km/hour
respectively in 10 seconds and 11 seconds respectively. The speed of the train is.

A train passes two persons walking in opposite direction at a speed of 5 m/second and 10 m/second
respectively in 6 seconds and 5 seconds respectively. Find the length of the train is.

Two trains of lengths 150 m and 180 m respectively are running in opposite directions on parallel
tracks. If their speed is 50 km/hour and 58 km/hour respectively. In what time will they cross each
other?

Two trains of equal length are running on parallel lines in the same direction at the rate of 46
km/hour and 36 km/hour. The faster train passes the slower train in 36 seconds the length of each
train is.
Two places P and Q are 162 km apart. A train leaves P for Q and simultaneously another train leaves
Q for P. They meet at the end of 6 hours. If the former train travels 8 km/hr faster than the other,
then speed of the train from Q is.

A train leaves a station A at 7 a.m. and reaches another station B at 11 a.m. another train leaves B at
8 a.m. and reaches A at 11:30 a.m. The two trains cross one another at.

Two trains start at the same time from Aligarh and Delhi and proceed towards each other at the rate
of 14 km and 21 km per hour respectively. When they meet, it is found that one train has travelled
70 kilometres more than the other. The distance between two stations is.

The distance between two cities A and B is 330 km. A train starts from A at 8 a.m. and travels
towards B at 60 km/hr. Another train starts from B at 9 a.m. and travels towards A at 75 km/hr. At
what time do they meet?
Type 4 Boat and Stream

A FEW IMPORTANT TERMINOLOGIES

The following terms will be used often while discussing boats and streams.

STREAM: It implies that the water in the river is moving or flowing.

UPSTREAM: Going against the flow of the river.

DOWNSTREAM: Going with the flow of the river.

STILL WATER: It implies that the speed of water is zero (generally in a lake).

DOWNSTREAM (WITH THE STREAM) ROWING: It indicates that the stream favours the man’s
rowing (or boating). I.e. direction of rowing and direction of flow (stream) is same.

UPSTREAM (AGAINST THE STREAM) ROWING: It indicates that the stream flows against the man’s
rowing (or boating) i.e. direction of rowing and direction of stream (current) are opposite.

Mr. Ramesh’s speed with the current is 20 kmph and the speed of the current is 5 kmph. Ramesh’s
speed against the current is?

Rani can row 8 kmph in still water. If the river is running at 4 kmph it takes 90 minutes to row to a
place and back. How far is the place?

A boat can cover 21 km in the direction of current and 15 km against the current in 3 hours each.
Find the speed of current?

A boat takes 26 hours for travelling downstream from point A to point B and coming back to point C
midway between A and B. If the velocity of the stream is 4 km/hr and the speed of the boat in still
water is 10 km/hr, what is the distance between A and B?
There is a road beside a river. Two friends started from a place A, moved to a temple situated at
another place B and then returned to A again. One of them moves on a cycle at a speed of 6 km/hr,
while the other sails on a boat at a speed of 8 km/hr. If the river flows at the speed of 6 km/hr,
which of the two friends will return to place A first?

A) Cyclist B) Sailor C) Both come at same time D) None

Rahul can row a certain distance downstream in 12 hour and return the same distance in 18 hour. If
the speed of Rahul in still water is 12 kmph, find the speed of the stream?
A) 2.1 kmph B) 1.5 kmph C) 4.4 kmph D) 2.4 kmph E) None of these

A boat takes 150 min less to travel 40 km downstream than to travel the same distance upstream.
The speed of the stream is 4 km/hr. What is the downstream speed?

A) 16 km/hr B) 12 km/hr C) 10 km/hr D) 8 km/hr E) None of these

LINEAR AND CIRCULAR RACES

The terms given below are commonly used in this topic, and a clear understanding will help the
student get a good grip on the subject.

1) RACE: A contest of speed between participants is called a race.

2) STARTING POINT: The point from where a race begins is called the starting point.

3) RACE COURSE: It means the path or ground on which races are run.

4) FINISHING POINT: The point where the race finishes is called the winning post or finishing point or
a goal.

5) DEAD HEAT RACE: A race in which no one is the winner because all the runners reach the winning
post at the same time, is called a dead heat race.

6) WINNER: The person who first reaches the finishing point is called the winner.

7) WINNER’S TIME: The time taken by the winner to complete the race is called winner’s time. If A
and B both start from the same place, then winner’s distance = Length of the race.

8) LOSER’S TIME: The time taken by the loser to complete the race is called loser’s time

Example: In a km race, A beats B by 40 meters or 8 seconds. Find A’s time over the course.

In a 500 m race, the ratio of the speeds of two contestants A and B is 3 : 4. A has a start of 140 m.
Then, A wins by:

A and B take part in a 100 m race. A runs at 5 km per hour. A gives B a start of 8 m and stil l beats him
by 8 seconds. The speed of B is:

CIRCULAR RACES

When two or more persons start from the same place at the same time and travel round a circle in
the same direction or in opposite directions, then they will be first together at the starting point
again after an interval of time which is the LCM of the times in which each of them makes one
complete round.

Example: A and B walk around a circular path of circumference 1200 meters. A walks @ 150 m/min
and B @ 70 m/min. If they start from the same point and walk in the same direction, then when will
they be first together again at the starting point?