Question

flying against the wind an airplane travels 8460 kilometers in 9 hours. flying with the wind, the same plane travels 9600 kilometers in 8 hours. what is the rate of the plane in still air and what is the rate of the wind

Answer 1

Let a be the speed of the plane and w the wind speed.

a - w = (8460 km)/(9 h) = 940 km/h

a + w = (9600 km)/(8 h) = 1200 km/h

Add these speeds together to eliminate w and solve for a :

2a = 1740 km/h

a = 870 km/h

Subtract the first vector from the second to eliminate a and solve for w :

2w = 260 km/h

w = 130 km/h