Julie and Eric row their boat (at a constant speed) 60 miles downstream for 6 hours, helped by the current. Rowing at the same rate, the trip back against the current takes 10 hours. Find the rate of the current.

Question

anonymous · Answer

down stream she was going $$\frac{60miles}{6hours}=10mph$$ while going upstream at :$$\frac{60miles}{10 hours}=6mph$$ since we are looking for the current all we have to do is subtract the difference in the speed to get our answer! $$10mph - 6mph = ? mph$$

anonymous · Answer

4mph

anonymous · Answer

yep so the current was 4mph!

anonymous · Answer

it makes sense to me, but my option are 3mph, 1.5, 2, or 8 mph

anonymous · Answer

yea i got mixed up with this :O its should be like D=RT

R=D/T
(R+C)=60/6
(R+C)=10 MPH
(R-C)=60/10
(R-C)=4 MPH
(10-6)/2=4/2=2 MPH IS THE CURRENT

anonymous · Answer

forgot to divide by 2 :(

anonymous · Answer

lol ok i was thinking two. makes more sense now! thank you! :)

anonymous · Answer

no problem! :)