SOLUTION: A plane flies 300 miles with a tail wind in 1 hour. It takes the same plane 2 hours to fly the 300 miles when flying against the wind. What is the plane’s speed in still air?

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Question 141479: A plane flies 300 miles with a tail wind in 1 hour. It takes the same plane 2 hours to fly
the 300 miles when flying against the wind. What is the plane’s speed in still air?
Answer by stanbon(75887) About Me  (Show Source):
You can put this solution on YOUR website!
A plane flies 300 miles with a tail wind in 1 hour. It takes the same plane 2 hours to fly the 300 miles when flying against the wind. What is the plane’s speed in still air?
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Let plane speed in still air be "p".
Let wind speed be "w".
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With wind DATA:
distance = 300 ; time = 1 hr ; rate = 300/1 mph
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against wind DATA:
distance = 300 ;time = 2 hr ; rate = 300/2 = 150 mph
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EQUATIONS:
p+w = 300
p-w = 150
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Add to get:
2p = 450
p = 225 mph (speed of plane in still air)
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Substitute into p+w = 300 to solve for w:
225 + w = 300
w = 75 mph (speed of the wind)
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Cheers,
Stan H.