Question

If it takes an airplane 3 hours to fly 360 miles WITH the wind and 4 hours to make the return trip AGAINST the wind, find the speed of the wind and the air speed of the plane.

Answer 1

I think i know what to do...we'll see.

time=distance/speed

speed of plane in still air=x
speed of wind=y

make two equations

3=360/(x+y)
4=360(x-y)

we can make the equations look a little better

3(x+y)=360
4(x-y)=360
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3x+3y=360
4x-4y=360

Now it is a system of equations where you can solve. Can you?

Answer 2

Yes, now this finally makes sense! I'm going to do the equation now. ps, I apologize if it takes me a while, I broke my hand and its hard to type & write

Answer 3

ill multiply the top by 4 and the bottom by 3 so I can cancel out the y

Answer 4

24x = 2520

Answer 5

x = 105. What does the x variable stand for though?

Answer 6

wait I got it, give me a sec

Answer 7

X is speed of plane in still air

Answer 8

plugging in now

Answer 9

y = 15! so y is the speed of the wind. thank you so much now I understand how to set it up!

Answer 10

You're welcome