SOLUTION: A pilot can fly a plane at 100 mph in calm air. A recent trip of 300 mi flying with the wind and 300 mi returning against the wind took 8 h. Find the rate of the wind.

Question 751629: A pilot can fly a plane at 100 mph in calm air. A recent trip of 300 mi flying with the wind and 300 mi returning against the wind took 8 h. Find the rate of the wind.

Answer by malglu(63) (Show Source): You can put this solution on YOUR website!
these problems look harder then they are
use the formula distance = speed * time
let x be the wind speed
the pilot flies 3oo miles with a speed 100mph + the wind pushing him x. filling this info in the formula and reaaranging for t (time) you get 300/(100+x)
do the same for when he flies against the wind (100mph - x) and you get 300/(100-x)
we know the time taken is 8 hours altogether so 8=300/(100+x) + 300/(100-x)
solving for x
x^2 = 2500
we obviously only need the positive root which is 50
so wind is 50mph
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