SOLUTION: Ryan is rowing a small boat out to and back from an island 20 miles away at a rate of x mph. On the way to the island, he has a tailwind of 4 mph that helps speed him forward. On t

Question 1052683: Ryan is rowing a small boat out to and back from an island 20 miles away at a rate of x mph. On the way to the island, he has a tailwind of 4 mph that helps speed him forward. On the way back, the wind has changed directions and is now a tailwind of 4 mph to speed his return trip home. If the total trip to and from the island takes Ryan 5 hours. What is Ryan's rowing speed, x?
Answer by josgarithmetic(39615) (Show Source): You can put this solution on YOUR website!
Rowing affected by a tailwind? Tailwind changes directions when rowing in the opposite direction? Here is taking the description just as it is written, even though the "tailwind" is so small. Is the speed of x, in the absence of the tailwind?

                SPEED            TIME           DISTANCE
OUT TO          x+4               t              20
RETURN          x+4               t              20
total                             5              40

Both directions take the same values.

--------------Ryan is just sitting in the boat, NOT rowing, and the tailwind is doing all the work.
RELATED QUESTIONS
Lusine is on a boat going to an island twelve miles away for a picnic. The way there,... (answered by scott8148)

K&B River Tours offers a river trip that takes passengers from the K&B dock to a small... (answered by stanbon)

A small island is 3km from the nearest point P on the straight shoreline of a large lake. (answered by greenestamps)

A boat travels X miles per hour from one island to another island in 2.5 hours. The... (answered by josgarithmetic,MathTherapy)

A cabin cruiser leaves a harbor and travels to a small island at an average speed of... (answered by richwmiller)

A cabin cruiser leaves a harbor and travels to a small island at an average speed of 24... (answered by stanbon)

A boat travels 45 mi to an island and 45 mi back again. Changes in the wind and tide... (answered by scott8148)

A ferry leaves a harbor and travels to a resort island at an average speed of 22 mph. On... (answered by ankor@dixie-net.com)

An island is 2 miles from point P (land) on a straight shore line. a town is 12 miles... (answered by ankor@dixie-net.com)