A train is moving eastward at 60kph, a waiter is walking towards the rear....(pls read inside)?

Question

A train is moving eastward at 60kph, a waiter is walking towards the rear of the train at 2kph and a fly is crawling north across the waiter's tray at 3 kph. what is the velocity of the fly relative to the east?

Answer 1

I had worked it out and got the answer as
58.077534 due to North-West relative to East.

If my answer is correct then contact me then I will give you the details of how I had worked it.

I did not give here as it takes time to write here and if it is correct then I wii surely give you the explanation.

Hope it is the correct answer.

Answer 2

The answer has to be 58kph. The "east" as you describe it is not a point but a straight line. Imagine you are in a square with four sides N,S,E & W and these sides are infinately long, then the fact that the fly is travelling northwards is irrelevant. Now if you want to refine the question and state that the train is directly travelling to a city due east of its current location, what is the velocity of the fly relative to the city? That's a different problem.

Answer 3

so... 60kph -> - 2kph <- + 3kph ^

which simplifies to:

58kph -> + 3kph ^

But since we're just interested in the fly's eastward velocity, the answer is:

58 kph east



Hope that helps! :-)

Answer 4

3 kph

Answer 5

58 kph assuming the train moves forward. if it in reverse 62 kph

Answer 6

you must be from England...nowhere else in the world do trains go that slow......

Answer 7

bablunt is right.