Question

Three friends all live on the same street that runs west to east. Ben lives 8 blocks from ann. Carol lives 2 blocks from ben. If the street is represented by a number line and ann's house is located at 0, what are the possible locations for carol's house?

Answer 1

i. 10 units (Carol's house is 10 units on the right from Ann's house)

ii. -10 units (Carol's house is 10 units on the left to Ann's house)

Explanation:

A number line is a system that can be used to express the location of directed number on a straight line. It has an origin which is taken to be zero (0).

In the given question, Ann's house is located at 0 of the number line. Let 1 block be represented by 1 unit on the number line.

Thus, Ben lives 8 blocks from Ann implies that Ben's house is at 8 units from Ann's house.

Given that Carol's house is 2 blocks from Ben implies that Carol's house is 2 units from Ben.

So that,

The possible locations of Carol's house depends on its position with respect to Ann's house.

i. Carol's house = 8 + 2

= 10 units

This implies that Carol's house is 10 units on the right from Ann's house.

ii. Carol's house = - 8 - 2

= -10 units

This implies that Carol's house is 10 units on the left to Ann's house.