Rowboat River Current Speed

A rowboat sailing down a river covers a distance of 120 m downstream in 12 s and upstream in 24 s. Find the magnitude of the ship's velocity relative to the water and the current in the river. Both speeds are constant.

Final Answer:

a =  7.5 m/s
b =  2.5 m/s

Step-by-step explanation:

s=120 m t1​=12 s t2​=24 s  v1​=s/t1​=120/12=10 m/s v2​=s/t2​=120/24=5 m/s  a+b=v1​ a−b=v2​ a+b=10 a−b=5  Row2−Row1→Row2 −2b=−5  b=−2−5​=2.5 a=10−b=10−2.5=7.5=7.5 m/s  a=215​=7.5 b=25​=2.5

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You need to know the following knowledge to solve this word math problem:

geometryalgebraarithmeticbasic operations and conceptsUnits of physical quantitiesthemes, topicsGrade of the word problem

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