During the first part of a trip a canoeist travels 93 miles at a certain speed. The conoiest travels 5 miles on the second trip at 5mph slower. The total time for the trip is 2 hrs. What was the speed on each part of the trip?

Question

I entered 1.999 as answer given, but it was wrong. Thank you so very much for all your help.

Thank you for all your help.

bobpursley · Answer

So the first thing I wonder about is significant digits, you may not know about that,but your answer to four places when one (5 miles) is given is a stretch in the real world.

he went 98miles in 2 hours.

93=certainspeed*time1
5=(certainspeed-5)(2-time1)

so solve for time1 in the first equation, put it in the second.

time1=93/certainspeed

5=(certainspeed-5)(2-93/certain speed)

multiply both sides by certain speed S

5S=(S-5)(2S-93)

multiply out the right side, collect terms,you have a quadratic, which can be solved for certain speed S.

Reiny · Answer

Ester, if you entered 1.999, then you did not enter the answer that I worked out for you.
I had the two rates as 49.3 mph and 44.3 mph which I had verified as being correct.

http://www.jiskha.com/display.cgi?id=1301620679