Final answer:
The park ranger hiked a total of 1 23/28 miles after converting each fraction to have a common denominator and adding them together.
Step-by-step explanation:
To find out how far the park ranger hiked in total, we need to add the three distances together:
- The distance from the starting point to the lookout: 3/4 mile
- The distance from the lookout to the bird's nest: 5/7 mile
- The distance from the bird's nest to the campsite: 5/14 mile
To add these fractions, they must first have a common denominator. The least common denominator (LCD) for 4, 7, and 14 is 28. Now, we convert each fraction to have the denominator of 28:
- 3/4 = 21/28 after multiplying by 7/7
- 5/7 = 20/28 after multiplying by 4/4
- 5/14 = 10/28 after multiplying by 2/2
Now we can add the fractions with the common denominator:
21/28 + 20/28 + 10/28 = 51/28
51/28 is equal to 1 23/28 miles since 51/28 is the same as 1 whole (28/28) plus 23/28.
Therefore, the park ranger hiked a total of 1 23/28 miles.