1.8 determine the distance travelled from the area between a velocity-time graph and the time axis.

CALCULATING THE DISTANCE TRAVELLED:

- We will use the red line on the picture for our calculations.

- Distance travelled can be calculated by the area underneath the graph.

- We need to work out the area of all the sections:

- For the first section the width is 4 s and the height is 8 m/s so using the equation Area of a triangle = 1/2 x base x height, we know that  the first section is 1/2 x 4 x 8 which is 16 m.
- For the second section the big rectangle has a width of 3 s (7-4) and a height of 8 m/s so using 3 x 8 = 24 m.
- The last section has a base of 3 s (10-7) and a height of 8 m/s so the are is 12 m.

- The final step is working out the area under the whole graph which is all the sections added together, 16 m + 24 m + 12 m = 58 m. This number is the total area under graph which represents the total distance covered.