A method of controlling the speed of an electric motor, said method being a digital method designed to control the speed of an induction motor that is powered by a triac device to a preset speed, in which the speed of the motor is measured and a digital numerical value representative of the mathematical first derivative of motor speed is calculated. A determination is made of the digital numerical value of the motor speed first derivative relative to a range, or band, of values. An error signal also is computed that is proportional to the error between the measured current motor speed and the preset speed and a determination is made of the digital numerical value of this error signal relative to a range, or band, of values that includes a value corresponding to that of the motor operating at the preset speed. If the value of each of the two signals is within its respective band, then the two numerical values are added to produce a total error signal whose value is then converted to a signal to a signal to correct the triac triggering angle to that needed to obtain the preset motor speed.