asked 94.8k views
2 votes
Clear and step-by-step answer please Thank you so much. A man goes fishing in a river and wants to know how long it will take him to get 10km upstream to his favourite fishing location. the speed of the current is 3 km/hr and it takes his boat twice as long to go 3km upstream as is does to go 4km downstream. how long will it take his boat to get to his fishing spot?

asked
User Mpho
by
7.4k points

1 Answer

2 votes

Let the speed of the boat be B km/hr and let the time taken to travel 4 km downstream be t hours.

Since the boat is travelling with the current downstream, the effective speed is (B + 3) km/hr. Therefore, the time taken to travel 4 km downstream is:

t = 4 / (B + 3)

It is given that the boat takes twice as long to travel 3 km upstream, which means the time taken to travel 3 km upstream is 2t.

Since the boat is now travelling against the current upstream, the effective speed is (B - 3) km/hr. Therefore, the time taken to travel 3 km upstream is:

2t = 3 / (B - 3)

We now have two equations in two variables (t and B). To solve for B, we can rearrange the second equation to get:

B = 3 / (2t) + 3

Substituting this expression for B into the first equation, we get:

t = 4 / (3 / (2t) + 6)

Simplifying this expression, we get:

t = 8t / (9 + 4t)

Multiplying both sides by (9 + 4t), we get:

t(4t + 9) = 8t

Expanding and rearranging, we get:

4t^2 - 8t + 9t =0

4t^2 + t - 0 = 0

Using the quadratic formula, we get:

t = (-b ± sqrt(b^2 - 4ac)) / 2a

where a = 4, b = 1, and c = 0.

Substituting these values, we get:

t = (-1 ± sqrt(1^2 - 4(4)(0))) / 2(4)

Simplifying, we get:

t = (-1 ± sqrt(1)) / 8

t = -0.125 or t = 0.25

Since time cannot be negative, we take t = 0.25 hours.

Substituting this value of t into the equation for B that we derived earlier, we get:

B = 3 / (2t) + 3 = 3 / (2 * 0.25) + 3 = 15 km/hr

Therefore, the speed of the boat is 15 km/hr, and the time taken to travel 10 km upstream (against the current) is:

t = 10 / (15 - 3) = 0.77 hours (rounded to two decimal places)

So it will take the man approximately 0.77 hours, or 46 minutes and 12 seconds, to get to his fishing spot upstream.

answered
User Dave Turner
by
8.9k points
Welcome to Qamnty — a place to ask, share, and grow together. Join our community and get real answers from real people.