Question

Traveling downstream a certain boat travels 19mph and when traveling upstream the boat only went 1mph. Find the speed of the boat and the speed of the current.

Answer 1

Let's assume the speed of the boat is "b" and the speed of the current is "c".

When the boat is traveling downstream, its effective speed is the sum of its speed and the speed of the current, so we can write:

b + c = 19

When the boat is traveling upstream, its effective speed is the difference between its speed and the speed of the current, so we can write:

b - c = 1

Now we have two equations with two unknowns, which we can solve using elimination or substitution.

Let's use elimination:

(b + c) + (b - c) = 19 + 1

2b = 20

b = 10

Now we can substitute b = 10 into one of the original equations to solve for c:

10 + c = 19

c = 9

So the speed of the boat is 10 mph and the speed of the current is 9 mph.