Question 30

A boat goes 96 km upstream in 8 hours and covers the same distance moving downstream in 6 hours. On the next day it starts from point A, goes downstream for 1 hour, then upstream for 1 hour, and repeats this for four more times, that is, 5 upstream and 5 downstream journeys. Then the boat would be

Let the speed of the boat be $$b$$ and of the stream be $$r$$, such that when the boat travels upstream, its speed is $$b-r$$, and when it travels downstream, its speed is $$b+r$$.

We now have $$\dfrac{96}{b-r} = 8$$ and $$\dfrac{96}{b+r} = 6$$. This gives $$b-r = 12$$ and $$b+r=16$$. Or that $$b=14$$ and $$r=2$$.

In one hour travelling downstream, the boat will cover $$(14+2)*1 = 16$$ kilometres. And in one hour travelling upstream, the boat will cover $$(14-2)*1= 12$$ kilometres. If the boat does this one after the other, it will effectively travel $$16-12=4$$ kilometres downstream.

The boat does this a total of five times. The distance it'll be from point A is simply $$4*5= 20$$ kilometres downstream.

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