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A person is walking from the front of a train toward the back of a train at a constant velocity of 3 mph. The train is moving forward at a velocity of 20 mph. What is the velocity of the walking person relative to the land outside the train?

User Fmlopes
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1 Answer

3 votes

Step-by-step explanation:

This is the Galilean transformation.

V' = V - U where want to find V' in the primed frame of reference.

The primed frame is moving at speed U = -20 relative to the train.

V = -3 is the speed of the person in the frame of the train.

Then V' = -3 - (-20) = 17 mph relative to the land outside the train.

User Petabyte
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