SOLUTION: A European Swallow flies into the wind from the castle of Uther Penn Dragon to Camelot while carrying a coconut. He flies 28 miles to Camelot in 2 hours, delivers the coconut and
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Question 1165883: A European Swallow flies into the wind from the castle of Uther Penn Dragon to Camelot while carrying a coconut. He flies 28 miles to Camelot in 2 hours, delivers the coconut and retrieves an identical coconut to carry back to the castle. He travels back the same distance (now with a tail wind) in 1.5 hours. What is the air speed of the laden swallow? What is the velocity of the wind?
The effective rate flying against the wind is = 14 miles per hour.
It is the difference of the groundspeed and the speed of the wind.
The effective rate flying back (with the wind) is = 18 miles per hour.
It is the sum of the groundspeed and the speed of the wind.
Therefore, the groundspeed is half the sum of these values, which is
*(18 + 14) = 16 mph.
The speed of the wind is half the difference of these values, which is
*(18 - 14) = 2 mph.
Solved.
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It is a typical "tailwind and headwind" word problem.
