Question

A boat travels 15 miles upstream and then turns around and travels 15 miles downstream. The total time for both trips is 4 hours. If the stream flows at 5 miles per hour, how fast does the boat travel in still water?

Answer 1

If the boat needed to travel 15 miles there and back, while the stream only moves 5 miles per hour, it would take 3 hours to travel there and back. This means that in still water, the boat would take 6 hours to move 15 miles upstream and back.