Derivation of the Kinematics Equations for Uniformly Accelerated Motion

This derivation is based on the properties of a velocity-time graph for uniformly accelerated motion where the
slope of the graph represents the acceleration
graph's area represents the displacement

Equation #1: slope = acceleration

Starting with the slope

where

gives us our first equation:

In this equation

a represents the object's uniform acceleration

t represents the interval of time ( t2 - t1) over which the object's velocity changed
vf represents the object's final velocity at the end of the time interval
vo represents the object's initial velocity at the beginning of the time interval

Equation #2: rearrange equation #1 for vf

Equation #3: area = displacement

Before we use the variables from our graph, let's take a moment and remember from geometry the formula for the area of
a trapezoid.

On our graph, this trapezoid is turned over on its side and looks like

Substituting in the following variables

vo for b1
vf for b2
h for t
allows us to rewrite the area of a trapezoid as kinematics equation #3

Equation #4: multiply equation #1 by equation #3

Equation #1:
Equation #3:

Equation #5: substitute equation #2 into equation #3

Equation #2:
Equation #3:

EQUATION SUMMARY (these MUST be memorized)

Equation

vo

vf