Question

A plane leaves chicago and arrives in albuquerque in 2 1/2 hrs. On the return trip the plance faces a strong wind and makes the trip in 3 hrs. If the plane was 96 mph slower on its return trip, what was the planes speed on the trip? I am trying to help my kid on this and its confusing to me-please help with an equation

Answer 1

lol

Answer 2

i guess we can do this right? let me get a pencil

Answer 3

man i can't even do a simple word problem let me start again
ok we use Distance = Rate times Time, and in this case whatever the distance is it is the same there and back, so we can set the Rate times Time equal to each other. call the rate there R and the rate coming back R -96 to get the equation
\[2\tfrac{1}{2}R=3(R-96)\]
get rid of annoying mixed number by multiplying by 2 get
\[5R=6(R-96)\]

Answer 4

solve
\[5R=6R-576\]
\[R=576\] i bet there was a snappier way to do it

Answer 5

|AB|=Xmiles
time taken= 2.5hours
speed1 = (X/2.5)mph

|BA|=Xmiles
time taken= 3hours
speed2=(X/3)mph=(speed1)-96
speed2=(X/3)=(X/2.5)-96

(X/3)=(X/2.5)-96
[solve for X]
X=1440

Initial trip speed (speed1)
speed1=X/2.5
speed1=1440/2.5
speed1=576mph