Home > Physics > Displacement and Velocity

What is average speed and how is it different from instantaneous speed?

Answer 1

Instantaneous speed is shown on a car's speedometer... how fast you are going at this 'instant'. Average speed is what you'd figure out once you arrive at your destination (I went 200 km in 2.5 hours = 80 km/h)

By signing up, you agree to our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy

Answer 2

Layla Ahmed

Average speed is the total distance traveled divided by the total time taken. Instantaneous speed, on the other hand, is the speed of an object at a specific moment in time.

By signing up, you agree to our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy

Answer from HIX Tutor

When evaluating a one-sided limit, you need to be careful when a quantity is approaching zero since its sign is different depending on which way it is approaching zero from. Let us look at some examples.