Find the speed of the plane.

Question

An airplane makes a trip in 5 hours flying against the wind. On the return trip, the plane is flying with the wind and the trip only takes 3 hours. If the wind is moving at 15 miles per hour, find the speed of the plane

Answer 1

Sami, I hope I can still help!

 

We know that distance = rate x time. Since the distance there and back are the same, we set the two products equal to each other.

 

If s = the speed of the plane, we add the windspeed coming back (s + 15) and subtract it going out (s - 15).

 

Sooo, we have...

5(s - 15) = 3(s + 15)

 

I bet you can solve for s from here!