I think its rather simple.

if you start a velocity = 0, then
d = .5 * a * t ^^2

The straight line from Miami (lat 26 N), to Panama (9 N) is just about
1000 miles, and the acceleration is 5 knots per hour, or 5 m/hour^^2.

Plugging in:
1000 = .5 * 5 * t^^2
400 = t^^2
t = 20 hours.

At that time, the final speed will be 100 knots.


Bryan wrote:
"Dave" wrote in message
...
On Fri, 02 Dec 2005 15:31:38 GMT, "Bryan" said:

If a sailboat leaves Miami at 5 knots per hour, how fast will it be
going
when it reaches Panama?
Impossible to determine without knowing its starting speed.
Starting speed: 0 Knots.
40 years ago, when integral calculus was fresh in my mind, I could have
told
you quickly how to derive the answer, assuming that the top speed of the
vessel were unlimited. Prolly still could figure it out if I sat down for
a
bit, but it's not worth the effort.

The simple answer, of course, is that the top speed of the vessel is not
unlimited, so it would be going at that top speed.

The fun would be to assume 5 knots per hour and assume a total number of
hours to get from Miami to Panama and assume no top speed. Otherwise,
where's the fun.
So that would be 5 knots at 1 hour, 10 knots at 2 hours, ...
Just need to know how many hours or NM to Panama.