The speed of the current is 13 mph
<h3>What is speed?</h3>
speed refers to distance travelled per unit time. This is a vector quantity this implies that it has magnitude and direction.
The unit for speed as used here is miles per hour and can be written in short form as mph
<u>Given data</u>
speed of boat = 15 miles per hour = 15 mph
distance = 44 miles upstream
total time for the trip = 7.5 hours
<h3>solving for the speed of the current</h3>
let the water current be x
speed = distance / time
the total travel time upstream and downstream is known
for upstream
15 - x = 44 / time
time = 44 / 15 - x
for downstream
15 + x = 44 / time
time = 44 / 15 + x
total time = time for upstream + time for downstream = 7.5
7.5 = (44 / 15 - x ) + ( 44 / 15 + x )
7.5 = ( 44 ( 15 + x ) + 44 ( 15 - x ) ) / ( 15 + x )( 15 - x )
7.5 ( 15 + x )( 15 - x ) = 210 +44x + 210 - 44x
7.5 ( 225 - x ^ 2 ) = 420
( 225 - x ^ 2 ) = 56
169 = x ^ 2
x = sqrt ( 169 )
x = 13 miles per hour
hence speed of current is 13 miles per hour
Read more on speed here: brainly.com/question/4931057
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