SOLUTION: A twin-engine plane flies 540 mi in the same amount of time it takes a single-engine plane to fly 360 mi. The rate of the twin-engine plane is 60 mph faster than the rate of the si

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Question 1102897: A twin-engine plane flies 540 mi in the same amount of time it takes a single-engine plane to fly 360 mi. The rate of the twin-engine plane is 60 mph faster than the rate of the single-engine plane. Find the rate of the twin-engine plane.
Found 2 solutions by jorel1380, greenestamps:
Answer by jorel1380(3719) About Me  (Show Source):
You can put this solution on YOUR website!
Let r be the rate of the single-engine plane; and r+60 be the rate of the twin-engine plane. Then:
540/r+60=360/r
540r=360r+21600
180r=21600
r=120
r+60=180
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Answer by greenestamps(13215) About Me  (Show Source):
You can put this solution on YOUR website!


The other tutor's answer is perfectly good; here is another way to solve the problem that I personally think is easier....

The time is the same for the two planes, so the ratio of the speeds will be the same as the ratio of the distances covered.
The ratio of the distances covered is 540:360 = 3:2, so the ratio of the speeds is 3:2.

With the ratio of speeds being 3:2, represent them with 3x and 2x. Then, since the difference in speeds is 60mph,
3x-2x+=+60
x+=+60
The speeds of the two planes are 3x=120mph and 2x=120mph.