Question

A Plane flies at x miles per hour in still air. Flying with a tailwind, it's speed is 485 miles per hour. Against the wind, it's air speed is only 445 miles per hour. What is the speed of the wind

Answer 1

Answer:the speed of the wind is 20 miles per hour.

Explanation:

A Plane flies at x miles per hour in still air. This means that the normal speed of the plane is x miles per hour.

Let y represent the speed of the wind.

Flying with a tailwind, it's speed is 485 miles per hour. This means that

the total speed of the plane would be x + y. Therefore

x + y = 485 - - - - - - - - 1

Against the wind, it's air speed is only 445 miles per hour. This means that

the total speed of the plane would be x - y. Therefore

x - y = 445 - - - - - - - - - 2

Adding equation 1 and equation 2, it becomes

2x = 930

x = 930/2 = 465

Substituting x = 465 into equation 1, it becomes

465 + y = 485

y = 485 - 465

y = 20 miles per hour