Calculate letters per minute from total words, minutes, and average word length, or solve for any missing value in the typing rate formula.
Letters Per Minute Formula
The following formula is used to calculate the letters per minute.
Variables:
- LPM is the letters per minute
- W is the total number of words
- AWL is the average word length in letters
- M is the time in minutes
To calculate the letters per minute, multiply the total number of words by the average word length in letters, then divide by the time in minutes.
What is Letters Per Minute?
Letters per minute (LPM) is a measure of typing or reading speed. It represents the number of letters that can be typed or read within one minute. This average-rate calculation can help compare typing or reading rates when the counting convention is consistent. It does not measure typing errors, comprehension or text difficulty.
How to Calculate Letters Per Minute?
Choose Letters per minute and enter the three inputs below. The other solve modes calculate total words, time or average length explicitly; zero denominators and nonunique cases are reported.
- First, determine the total number of words typed or read (W).
- Next, determine the average word length in letters (AWL).
- Next, determine the time spent typing or reading in minutes (M).
- Next, gather the formula from above: LPM = (W * AWL) / M.
- Finally, calculate the Letters Per Minute (LPM).
- After inserting the variables and calculating the result, check your answer with the calculator above.
Example Problem :
Use the following variables as an example problem to test your knowledge.
Total number of words (W) = 300 words
Average word length (AWL) = 5 letters
Time spent typing or reading (M) = 10 minutes
