The boat travels at 18 miles per hour.
What is speed?
Speed is calculated as follows: speed = distance / time. Knowing the units for distance and time is necessary to calculate the units for speed.
The rate at which an object travels a certain distance can be described using the speed formula. The distance that a body travels in a certain amount of time is a common way to measure speed.
Given: A boat travels 30 miles up the river in the same amount of time it takes to travel 42 miles down the same river. The current is 3 miles per hour.
From the above information we can write,
Let, u is the boat speed in still water, then
[tex]\frac{30}{u-3} = \frac{42}{u+3}[/tex]
Taking cross multiplication,
30(u + 3) = 42(u - 3)
Solving,
30u + 90 = 42u - 126
42u - 30u -126 -90 = 0
12u = 216
u = 18
Therefore, the speed of boat in still water is, 18 miles per hour.
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