Fact · Typing and writing speed
characters per secondcharacters per second
Entry speed in text entry research is the total number of characters entered divided by the time taken to enter them, in characters per second.
Checked against its source on October 16, 2026
In the source's own words
“Entry speed is simply the total number of characters entered divided by the time to enter them.”
A Note on Calculating Text Entry Speed, I. Scott MacKenzie, York University, Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (author's research note), 2002, Characters Per Second.
Open the original- What it measures
- MacKenzie's research note on calculating text entry speed shows the basic formula with a worked example: a 43-character phrase entered in 20 seconds gives 2.15 characters per second. The note then discusses where the timer should start and stop.
- What it does not show
- The note's unit is characters per second. Words per minute and characters per minute are conversions of the same idea, using a convention of five characters per word.