Which one of the following characteristics of the particle does the shaded area of the velocity-time graph shown below represent?

In kinematics, the area under a velocity-time (v-t) graph represents the displacement or distance covered by a particle [t1][t2]. Mathematically, displacement is the integral of velocity with respect to time, which geometrically corresponds to the net area between the velocity curve and the time axis [t2][t3]. While the slope of a v-t graph indicates acceleration, the product of the axes (velocity × time) yields the change in position [t1][t8]. If the velocity remains positive throughout the interval, the area directly represents the total distance covered [t1][t6]. Momentum, conversely, is the product of mass and velocity and is not represented by the area of this specific graph. Therefore, the shaded region in a standard v-t plot signifies the total distance or displacement achieved during the specified time interval [t2][t5].