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cloudz9
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Speed of still water 10 Jun 2005, 18:06
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Got this question wrong...would appreciate someone explaining what the speed of 'still water' could mean...

3. Find the speed of a man in still water if he goes upstream at 6 km/h when the rate of stream is 2 km/h.

A. 2 km/h
B. 8 km/h
C. 6 km/h
D. 14 km/h
E. 4 km/h



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sparky
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Speed of still water 10 Jun 2005, 18:34
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cloudz9
Got this question wrong...would appreciate someone explaining what the speed of 'still water' could mean...

3. Find the speed of a man in still water if he goes upstream at 6 km/h when the rate of stream is 2 km/h.

A. 2 km/h
B. 8 km/h
C. 6 km/h
D. 14 km/h
E. 4 km/h
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If you ingnore physics and biology, then it's C. If you don't, it also can be B and D. imo, I am not too sure how to answer it. You won't see it on gmat. What's OA?

p.s. technicaly you can say that the answer is none of the choices since the problem never actually says that he is in the stream when he walks upstream. He might as well walk alongside the stream.
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cloudz9
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Speed of still water 10 Jun 2005, 18:38
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sparky
cloudz9
Got this question wrong...would appreciate someone explaining what the speed of 'still water' could mean...

3. Find the speed of a man in still water if he goes upstream at 6 km/h when the rate of stream is 2 km/h.

A. 2 km/h
B. 8 km/h
C. 6 km/h
D. 14 km/h
E. 4 km/h

If you ingnore physics and biology, then it's C. If you don't, it also can be B and D. imo, I am not too sure how to answer it. You won't see it on gmat. What's OA?

p.s. technicaly you can say that the answer is none of the choices since the problem never actually says that he is in the stream when he walks upstream. He might as well walk alongside the stream.
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Well official answer goes like this...didn't quite understand it, hence put it up here...couldn't understand it inspite of physics

anyway here goes:

Speed in still water can be calculated as the actual speed upstream + the rate or speed of stream
= 6 + 2
= 8 km/h.
Hence 2.
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Speed of still water 10 Jun 2005, 18:43
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I see, the answer gives you speed relative to water but the problem never gives you a point of reference for measuring speed. If the problem said that 'he floats/or is rowing/ or is boating upstream, then you can conclude that it is 2+6=8 since the point of reference is water. For all we know he could be walking in the water. That actually what I thought at first. Is it from official GMAT exam?
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Speed of still water 10 Jun 2005, 18:53
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No its from some random source on the internet
the link is https://www.gmatbuster.org/

i thought the question was a bit ambiguous...
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Speed of still water 10 Jun 2005, 20:55
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For this kind of questions you can't think too much. It's simply saming if the water flows down at 2 and his speed is 8 in still water then his speed when he goes upstream would be 6. Better change the person to a boat.
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Speed of still water 11 Jun 2005, 13:47
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For this kind of questions you can't think too much. It's simply saming if the water flows down at 2 and his speed is 8 in still water then his speed when he goes upstream would be 6. Better change the person to a boat.
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ahhh now that makes sense...and i finally understand the answer
thanks!
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Speed of still water 12 Nov 2007, 08:51
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cloudz9
Got this question wrong...would appreciate someone explaining what the speed of 'still water' could mean...

3. Find the speed of a man in still water if he goes upstream at 6 km/h when the rate of stream is 2 km/h.

A. 2 km/h
B. 8 km/h
C. 6 km/h
D. 14 km/h
E. 4 km/h
Show more


8.

upstream rate = still position - speed of water current
downstream rate = still position + speed of water current

its very simple logic.

the harder question is here.
https://www.gmatclub.com/forum/t37803



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Hi there,
This topic has been closed and archived due to inactivity or violation of community quality standards. No more replies are possible here.
Where to now? Join ongoing discussions on thousands of quality questions in our Quantitative Questions Forum
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