On the first day of the journey, the Skipper sailed his ship halfway to the destination by traveling due east for 20 hours at a speed of 30 kilometers per hour, and then turned the ship's engines off to let them cool down. But while the engines were off, a wind storm blew his vessel backward in a westward direction. After the storm, the Skipper used his GPS device to determine the new location of the ship, and he discovered that he was only one-third of the way to his destination. How many kilometers had the ship been blown in a westward direction by the storm? Think carefully first, then make a decision:
Traveling 20 hours due east at 30 kilometers per hour, the ship sailed 20 * 30 = 600 kilometers the first day. If half the distance to the destination is 600 kilometers, then 2 * 600 = 1200 kilometers is the total distance from start to destination. One - third of the distance from start to destination is 1 / 3 * 1200 = 400 kilometers. Thus, the wind storm blew the ship in a westward direction for 600 - 400 = 200 kilometers. So, the answer is 200.