SOLUTION: A man can row at the rate of 12 mph in still water. He rows upstream for two hours and returns in one hour and twelve minutes. Find the rate of the current.

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Question 1194191: A man can row at the rate of 12 mph in still water. He rows upstream for two hours
and returns in one hour and twelve minutes. Find the rate of the current.
Found 2 solutions by Alan3354, greenestamps:
Answer by Alan3354(69443) About Me  (Show Source):
You can put this solution on YOUR website!
A man can row at the rate of 12 mph in still water. He rows upstream for two hours
and returns in one hour and twelve minutes. Find the rate of the current.
-----------------
c = rate of current
d = distance
---
d = (12 - c)*2 = (12 + c)*1.2
Solve for c
====================
Solve for d, too.

Answer by greenestamps(13200) About Me  (Show Source):
You can put this solution on YOUR website!


The other tutor showed one way of setting up the problem for solving.

Here is another way to think of setting the problem up that leads to exactly the same calculations.

Let x be the speed of the current; then his upstream speed is 12-x and his downstream speed is 12+x.

His upstream time is 2 hours and his downstream speed is 1 hour 12 minutes = 1.2 hours.

Since the distances are the same, the ratio of times is the same as the ratio of speeds:

%2812-x%29%2F%2812%2Bx%29=1.2%2F2

That is exactly equivalent to the equation shown by the other tutor.

I always encourage students to look at different ways of solving problems to find which methods "work" best for them.