Question

A motorboat takes 4 hours to travel 128 kilometers going upstream. The return trip takes 2 hours going downstream. What is the rate of the boat in still water and what is the rate of the current?

Answer 1

`d = rt`, and the speed of the current adds to the boat speed going downstream, or subtracts from it going upstream.

Let's say I'm in a 10 mph current in a canoe. If I can row 2 mph, I can go 12 mph downstream, or if I try to go upstream, I'm gonna actually be going backward 8 mph
`(2 - 10 = -8)`.

`4(b - c) = 128`

`2(b + c) = 128`

`b - c = 32`

`b + c = 64`

`2b = 96`

b = 48 mph

`48 + c = 64`

c = 16 mph