Question

Mia plans to go running. She wants to make sure she takes

enough water and snacks with her. She usually drinks a bottle
of water after every 2 miles and eats a snack after every
4 miles. She decides to pack 5 bottles of water and 2 snacks.
How far can Mia run with the items she has packed?
Explain your answer.

Answer 1

• 10 miles

---------------------------------

Mia has 5 bottles of water, it gives her:

• 5×2 = 10 miles

Within this 10 miles Mia can eat a snack twice and this will limit her further run.

The items Mia has allow her to run 10 miles maximum.

Answer 2

12 miles

Explanation:

Given information:

• Mia drinks a bottle of water after every 2 miles.
• Mia eats a snack after every 4 miles.

Mia drinks water after every 2 miles she runs. Therefore, if Mia has packed 5 bottles of water she can run:

⇒ 2 + 5 × 2 = 12 miles

Mia eats a snack after every 4 miles she runs. Therefore, if Mia has packed 2 snacks she can run:

⇒ 4 + 2 × 4 = 12 miles

Therefore, Mia can run 12 miles with the items she has packed.

0 miles: Begins running.

2 miles: Drinks bottle 1.

4 miles: Drinks bottle 2 and eats snack 1.

6 miles: Drinks bottle 3

8 miles: Drinks bottle 4 and eats snack 2.

10 miles: Drinks bottle 5.

---------------------------------------------------------------

12 miles: Drinks another bottle.

Remember that Mia drinks a bottle of water after she has run 2 miles, and eats a snack after she has run 4 miles.

Therefore, drinking a bottle of water allows Mia to run for 2 further miles, and eating a snack allows her to run for 4 further miles.

So when she drinks her last bottle of water at 10 miles, she can only continue running for a further 2 miles before she needs to drink again. As she doesn't have a 6th bottle of water, she will have to stop running at 12 miles.