Question

Alan is hiking a 70 mile long trail. After a few days his distance from the trails beginning is four time as far he is from the trails end. What's the distance Alan still has to hike?

Answer 1

Alan still has to hike 14 miles.

Explanation:

Let the distance already hiked be x miles and the distance still to be covered be y miles.

We are given the total distance to be hiked = 70 miles.

So, x + y = 70

also, we are given that the distance from start to current position = 4 times the distance from end to current position, so x = 4y

Substituting this in above equation,

4y + y = 70

5y = 70

y = 70/5 = 14 miles

which is the distance still to be hiked and hence the required answer.