SOLUTION: A man is rowing a boat upstream. As he passes under a bridge, a bottle falls out. 20 min later the rower realizes this and rows back to pick it up. He catches up with the bottle 1

Question 577532: A man is rowing a boat upstream. As he passes under a bridge, a bottle falls out. 20 min later the rower realizes this and rows back to pick it up. He catches up with the bottle 1 mile downstream from the bridge. How fast is the current?
Answer by Alan3354(69443) (Show Source): You can put this solution on YOUR website!
A man is rowing a boat upstream. As he passes under a bridge, a bottle falls out. 20 min later the rower realizes this and rows back to pick it up. He catches up with the bottle 1 mile downstream from the bridge. How fast is the current?
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Assuming his rowing speed is constant, it takes him 20 minutes to get back to the bottle.
In 40 minutes, the bottle moved 1 mile wrt the land.
1 mi/(2/3) hr --> 1.5 mi/hr current.
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I've seen this worked using the dirt as the frame of reference.
It's tedious and messy.

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