Have you ever taken a round trip flight and noticed that the time it took to reach your destination was different than the time it took to return? Aside from flight cancellations and delays, one possible explanation for the difference in flight times might be the jet stream. The jet stream is a current of high-speed wind that blows from the west to the east. When planes fly with the jet stream, they can travel faster and reach their destination quicker. When planes fly against the jet stream, they travel slower and take a bit longer to reach their destination.

Work the following problems with paper and pencil. Then check your answers using the interactive application. Click on the "play" button and then enter your values for time and distance in the appropriate boxes. Click on "run" to see the effect of the jet stream. Click on the "reset" button before you enter new values. You may note in some cases that the paper and pencil solution you get will not exactly match the solution to the interactive application, since the application truncates decimals.