Problema Solution

a boat has a speed of 15 mph in still water. it travels downstream from cagayan river to pasig river in 2/5 of an hour.it then goes back upstream from pasig river to pacific ocean which is 2 miles downstream from cagayan river in 3/5 of an hour. find the rate of current

Answer provided by our tutors

let 'x' represent the distance in miles from cagayan to pasig, then 'x-2' represents the distance from cagayan to the pacific ocean


let 'c' represent the rate of the current, then '15+c' represents the speed of the boat downstream and '15-c' represents the speed of the boat upstream


distance = speed * time

x = (15+c) (2/5)

x-2 = (15-c)(3/5)

solving this system we have:

x = 8

c = 5


the speed of the current is 5mph