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Shareen finds that when she drives her motorboat uptream she can travel with a speed of only 8 m/s while she moves with a speed of 12m/s when she heads downstream.What is the current of the river on which Shareen is traveling?

1 Answer

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Final answer:

The current of the river is 2 m/s. When the boat moves upstream, its speed is reduced by the speed of the current. So, we can write the equation as: 8 m/s = Speed of Boat - Speed of Current

Step-by-step explanation:

The speed of the motorboat can be calculated using the formula:

Speed = Speed of Boat + Speed of Current

When the boat moves upstream, its speed is reduced by the speed of the current. So, we can write the equation as:

8 m/s = Speed of Boat - Speed of Current

When the boat moves downstream, its speed is increased by the speed of the current. So, we can write the equation as:

12 m/s = Speed of Boat + Speed of Current

Now, we need to solve these two equations to find the speed of the current. Subtracting the first equation from the second equation, we get:

12 m/s - 8 m/s = 2 * Speed of Current

4 m/s = 2 * Speed of Current

Speed of Current = 4 m/s / 2 = 2 m/s

Therefore, the current of the river is 2 m/s.

User Zhengyang Liu
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