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A tugboat goes 72 miles upstream in 9 hours. The return trip downstream takes 4 hours. Find the speed of the tugboat without a current and find the speed of the current.

User Stephanee
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1 Answer

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Explanation:

72÷9= 8, so the boat was only doing 8mph going upstream (against the current) the return trip downstream only took 4 hours. 72÷18=4 meaning the boat was traveling at 18mph downstream (no current) there is a 10mph difference between upstream and downstream therefore the current had to be running at 10 mph. so the speed of the tug boat is 8mph without a current and the current is running at 10mph.

User Dave DeCaprio
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