SOLUTION: With a tailwind, a bird flew at a ground speed of 3 miles per hour. Flying the same path against the same wind, the bird travels at a ground speed of 1.5 miles per hour. What is t

Question 1006968: With a tailwind, a bird flew at a ground speed of 3 miles per hour. Flying the same path against the same wind, the bird travels at a ground speed of 1.5 miles per hour. What is the bird's air speed? What is the wind speed?
Found 2 solutions by fractalier, Alan3354:
Answer by fractalier(6550) (Show Source): You can put this solution on YOUR website!
Call the bird's air speed, r.
Call the wind's speed, w.
Thus we have
r + w = 3 and
r - w = 1.5
Add these and get
2r = 4.5
r = 2.25 mph
Thus the wind is .75 mph.
Answer by Alan3354(69443) (Show Source): You can put this solution on YOUR website!
With a tailwind, a bird flew at a ground speed of 3 miles per hour. Flying the same path against the same wind, the bird travels at a ground speed of 1.5 miles per hour.
What is the bird's air speed?
It's the average of the 2 groundspeeds.
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What is the wind speed?
The difference between airspeed and groundspeed.
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PS That's very slow for a bird. 30 - 40 mi/hr is common cruise speed for common birds.

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