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Old 10-16-2007, 02:54 AM
Sephus Sephus is offline
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Join Date: Aug 2004
Posts: 3,994
Default Re: Is this word problem solvable?

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if he spends an hour rowing away from the log, it will take him another hour to get back to it. the log travels 2 miles in 2 hours.

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Wouldn't his speed be faster on the return as his paddling is combined with the speed of the stream?

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you're in a lifeboat on the ocean. you know you can swim exactly 2 hours before you drown. you always swim at a constant speed.

you've been swimming away from your boat for 1 hour. the water you and your lifeboat are in are traveling at 800 miles/hour. to your horror, you realize that you have been swimming with the current, which means you are over 800 miles from where you were when you left your lifeboat.

realizing you have no chance of getting back, you strangle yourself with the drawstring of your bathing suit. two months later a fisherman finds your watch in the stomach of a great white.
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