Question 676617: I need help setting up this word problem. Luke sets out on a snow speeder to base 4800 miles away. He travels in a steady head wind and makes the trip in 3 hrs. Returning, now with the tail wind, takes only 2 hrs. Find the rate of Luke's snow speeder and the speed of the wind.
Answer by ankor@dixie-net.com(22740)   (Show Source):
You can put this solution on YOUR website! 4800 miles is so ridiculous, I assume the problem is:
Luke sets out on a snow speeder to base 48 miles away.
He travels in a steady head wind and makes the trip in 3 hrs.
Returning, now with the tail wind, takes only 2 hrs.
Find the rate of Luke's snow speeder and the speed of the wind.
:
Let s = speed of vehicle
Let w = speed of the wind
then
(s-w) = effective speed against the wind
and
(s+w) = effective speed with
:
Write a distance equation for each trip; dist = time * speed
3(s-w) = 48
2(s+w) = 48
We will use elimination here, divide the 1st eq by 3, the 2nd eq by 2
s - w = 16
s + w = 24
------------- addition eliminates w, find s
2s = 40
s = 20 mph is the speed of the vehicle
:
You can find the speed of the wind
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