Question

A small plane takes off and heads directly upwind to an airport 40 miles away. It takes 30 minutes to get there. The return trip takes 20 minutes. What is the speed of the wind in miles per hour?

Answer 1

Answer: The speed of the wind is 40 miles per hour (mph)

Explanation:

The first half of the trip took about 30 minutes to get to its destination, so if we must calculate the speed of the wind in miles per hour, it is important that we convert this time of flight for the first half of the journey (which is in minutes) to hours:

60 minutes --------- 1 hour

30 minutes --------- ?hour

= 30/60 × 1/1

= 30/60

= 1/2 hour

Now, we try to calculate the speed of the wind during the first half of the journey:

Since speed = distance/time and the distance covered by the plane during the first half of the trip is 40 miles, the speed:

distance/time

= 40miles/(1/2)

= 40 / (1/2)

= 40 × 2

= 80 mph.

This is the speed of the first half of the journey.

Then if the plane spent 20 minutes during the return flight, converting the time to hours:

60 minutes ------ 1 hour

20 minutes ------- ? hour

= (20/60) × 1/1

= 1/3 hour

Then the speed of the return flight =

40 miles/(1/3) hour

= (40/1) × 3/1

= 120 mph

To determine the speed of the wind in mph, we will subtract the speed of the first half of the trip from the speed of the return flight:

120 mph - 80 mph

Therefore the speed of the wind = 40 miles per hour (mph)

Answer 2

Explanation:

IIada, Distance = speed*time, so speed = distance/time right?

The plane went the same distance each direction.

s - w = 40/30 = 4/3

s + w = 40/20 = 2

Adding the two equations together...

s = 5/3

w = 1/3

So the speed of the wind in miles per hour is 1/3