aEquation With a Headwind:s=r−w Equation With a Tailwind:s=r+w
B
b See solution.
Practice makes perfect
a We know the speed of the wind w, the speed set by the pilot r, and the total speed s. Now we will write two equations.
An equation for the total speed with a headwind.
An equation for the total speed with a tailwind.
Equation With a Headwind
We know headwinds decrease the total speed of the plane. Therefore, to write an equation of the totalspeed of the plane we will subtract the speedoftheheadwind from the pilot’sspeed.
TotalSpeed=PilotSpeed−HeadwindSpeed⇓s=r−w
Equation With a Tailwind
We are told that tailwinds increase the total speed of the plane. Therefore, when writing an equation of the totalspeed of the plane, we will add the speedofthetailwind to the pilot’sspeed.
TotalSpeed=PilotSpeed+TailwindSpeed⇓s=r+w
b In this exercise we will write equations for the distance traveled and we will solve these equations for t.
Distance Traveled With a Headwind
We found the total speed of the plane with a headwind in Part A. We will use this information to write the equation for the distance traveled. We will write the equation by using the distance formula, in which we will represent the distance traveled as d and the time as t.
To write the equation for the distance traveled we will use the equation for the total speed of the plane with the tailwind that we found in Part A. We will proceed the same way as the equation for the distance traveled with the headwind.
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