Question

A ship traveled for 4 hours heading west and for 5 hours heading north. If the total distance traveled was 119 miles, and the ship traveled 5 miles per hour faster west, at what speed was the ship traveling west

Answer 1

let speed that ship travelled west be x mph

then distance travelled west = time * speed = 4x

speed going North was x - 5 mph and distance = 5(x - 5)

so we have
4x + 5x -25 = 119


9x = 119+25 = 144
x = 144/9 = 16 mph <------ answer