Question

A group of 12 people go on a trek that has enough water for 4 days. How many days will the water last if the group size is doubled?

1) 2 days
2) 4 days
3) 8 days
4) 16 days

Answer 1

The water will last for 2 days if the group size is doubled because the water consumption rate will also double, depleting the supply in half the original amount of time.

Step-by-step explanation:

If a group of 12 people has enough water for 4 days, doubling the group size would halve the number of days the water will last. This is because the amount of water consumed each day would double, therefore depleting the supply at twice the original rate. We can calculate the days by dividing the original number of days by the factor of increase in the number of people.

To find out how many days the water will last if the group size is doubled:

• Starting with a group of 12 people and water for 4 days.
• When the group size becomes 24 (doubling the group size), the water consumption rate also doubles.
• The number of days the water can last is halved; therefore, 4 days / 2 = 2 days.