More Equation Solving. I found this delightful problem on the internet. Unfortunately the link to the original statement has since expired.
One time, a few years back, I drove a boat up the Mississippi river. My mom was with me, but she was asleep the moment she stepped into the boat. A mile up the river, her hat blew off into the water. It took her five minutes to wake up and realize that her hat was missing. She told me to turn the boat around and head downstream to retrieve her hat. When we finally reached the hat, it had floated to the dock where we had left from. Now, I had kept the boat going at the same speed the entire time, but what I want to know is, how fast was the river flowing?
The speed of the river is miles per hour.
At our annual problem solving contest in 2003, one of our math majors solved this problem in 45 seconds. However, this problem does come with a solution. Look at it after the set closes.