SOLUTION: a plane flies 1200 miles in 2 hours with the jet stream and returns the same distance in two and a half hours against the wind. find the wind speed.

Question 388500: a plane flies 1200 miles in 2 hours with the jet stream and returns the same distance in two and a half hours against the wind. find the wind speed.
Found 2 solutions by Fombitz, lwsshak3:
Answer by Fombitz(32388) (Show Source): You can put this solution on YOUR website!
Rate*Time=Distance
.
.
.
Let P be the plane speed, W the wind speed.
With the wind,

1.
.
.
Against the wind,

2.
Add the two equations,

mph
Then from eq. 1,

mph
Answer by lwsshak3(11628) (Show Source): You can put this solution on YOUR website!
The key to most of these types of problems is to determine an equality. In this case, the equality is the speed of the plane in still air.
speed of plane downwind = 1200/2 = 600 mi/h
speed of plane against the wind =1200/2.5=480 mi/hr
downwind speed - wind speed = against the wind speed + wind speed
let x = wind speed
600-x=480+x
2x=120
x=60
ans: wind speed is 60 mi/hr
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