document.write( "Question 498281: Two fishing boats depart a harbor at the same time, one traveling east, the other south. The eastbound boat travels at a speed 7 mi/h faster than the southbound boat. After five hours the boats are x = 65 mi apart. Find the speed of the southbound boat. \n" ); document.write( "
Algebra.Com's Answer #336994 by htmentor(1343)\"\" \"About 
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Two fishing boats depart a harbor at the same time, one traveling east, the other south. The eastbound boat travels at a speed 7 mi/h faster than the southbound boat. After five hours the boats are x = 65 mi apart. Find the speed of the southbound boat.
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\n" ); document.write( "Let s = the speed of the southbound boat
\n" ); document.write( "Then s+7 = the speed of the eastbound boat
\n" ); document.write( "The separation distance is the hypotenuse of a right triangle.
\n" ); document.write( "The length of the other two legs will be equal to the speed of the boat times
\n" ); document.write( "the travel time of the boat
\n" ); document.write( "The distance traveled by the eastbound boat = (s+7)*5
\n" ); document.write( "The distance traveled by the southbound boat = s*5
\n" ); document.write( "Using the Pythagorean theorem, we can write
\n" ); document.write( "(5(s+7))^2 + (5s)^2 = 65^2
\n" ); document.write( "This can be simplified to
\n" ); document.write( "s^2 + 7s - 60 = 0
\n" ); document.write( "Factoring gives
\n" ); document.write( "(s+12)(s-5) = 0
\n" ); document.write( "Take the positive solution, s = 5
\n" ); document.write( "So the speed of the southbound boat is 5 mph \n" ); document.write( "
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