SOLUTION: A military drone can fly at 7 miles per hour in calm conditions. For one flight, the drone flew 54 miles with the wind and 30 miles against the wind in the same amount of time. Wha

Question 1199975: A military drone can fly at 7 miles per hour in calm conditions. For one flight, the drone flew 54 miles with the wind and 30 miles against the wind in the same amount of time. What was the wind speed for the flight? (Do not include the units in your response.)

Found 3 solutions by Alan3354, josgarithmetic, greenestamps:
Answer by Alan3354(69443)   (Show Source): You can put this solution on YOUR website!
A military drone can fly at 7 miles per hour in calm conditions. For one flight, the drone flew 54 miles with the wind and 30 miles against the wind in the same amount of time. What was the wind speed for the flight?
----------------------------
w = wind speed
===
t*(w+7) = 54
t*(w-7) = 30
---
tw + 7t = 54
tw - 7t = 30
---------------------- Add
2tw = 84
tw = 42
------
42 + 7t = 54
7t = 12
t = 12/7 hours
=====
w = 42/t = 294/12 = 24.5 mi/hr
======================================
The launch was not a good idea. The drone is miles away and can't return against the wind which is 3.5 times its airspeed.

Answer by josgarithmetic(39792)   (Show Source): You can put this solution on YOUR website!

SPEED TIME DISTANCE WITHWIND 7+w 54/(7+w) 54 AGAINSTWD 7-w 30/(7-w) 30

The time is the same amount for both directions.

-

Answer by greenestamps(13327)   (Show Source): You can put this solution on YOUR website!

let w be the wind speed. Then the two speeds with and against the wind are 7+w and 7-w.

The ratio of the distances is 54:30 = 9:5. Since the times are the same, the ratio of speeds is also 9:5.

The equation can be solved by inspection, although formal algebra could be used.

ANSWER: w = 2

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