Question

They will rest after they hike `2` miles. Then they will hike the remaining `1.75` miles to the lookout. The trail the hikers will use to return from the lookout is `0.5` miles shorter than the trail they will use to go to the lookout. Each hiker will bring `0.25` gallons of water for each mile to and from the lookout. What is the total amount of water each hiker will need to carry?

Answer 1

1.75 gallons

Explanation:

First, we need to calculate how far the hike is going up the trail. They first hike 2 miles and then another 1.75 miles after resting so...

2 + 1.75 = 3.75 miles

The trail is 3.75 miles long, the question states that the return path is 0.5 miles shorter, therefore...

3.75 - 0.5 = 3.25 miles

Leaving us with a total hiking distance of

3.75 + 3.25 = 7 miles.

Since each hiker will carry 0.25 gallons for each mile we simply need to multiply this amount by the total number of miles in the hike.

7 * 0.25 = 1.75 gallons

Finally, we can see that each hiker will carry a total of 1.75 gallons of water for the entire hike.