Problema Solution

A boat travels 1km upstream and 1km back. The time for the round trip is 8hrs. The speed of the stream is 4 km/hr. The speed of the boat is how many km/hr.

Answer provided by our tutors

Speed of the boat = X km/hr (X>0)

Upstream speed = X - 4

Down stream speed = X + 4

because time = distance/velocity

=> [1/(X-4) + 1/(X+4)] = 8

=> X+4 + X -4 = 8(X2 - 16) 

 8X2 - 2X - 16 = 0

 4X2 - X - 8 = 0 

solve the quadratic equation

X = 1.5447 km/h