SOLUTION: A fireman stood on the middle step of a ladder, shooting water into a burning building. As the smokelessened, he climbed up three steps and continued his work. The fire got worse,

Question 171408: A fireman stood on the middle step of a ladder, shooting water into a burning building. As the smokelessened, he climbed up three steps and continued his work. The fire got worse, so he had to go down five steps. Later he climbed up the last six steps and was at th top of the ladder. How many steps were there?
Answer by Mathtut(3670) (Show Source): You can put this solution on YOUR website!
well the answer is 9
: remember the middle rung can only be counted once so we need to account for that
:
if x is the total distance from one rung to the other
:
(1/2)x=3-5+6+1/2........the 1/2 is so that the middle rung is counted once
:
x/2=4.5
:
steps

RELATED QUESTIONS
A fireman stood on the middle rung of a ladder pouring water on a building. As the smoke... (answered by coyote)

Kathy stood on the middle rung of a ladder. She climbed up 2 rings, moved down 3 rings... (answered by stanbon,josmiceli,josgarithmetic,MathTherapy)

Helppppppppppp explanation and answer please Kathy stood on the middle rung of a... (answered by Alan3354,Edwin McCravy,MathTherapy)

can someone answer this? Kathy stood on the middle rung of a ladder. She climbed up 2... (answered by Alan3354)

I need help with the following quetion : A firefighter spraying water on a fire stood on... (answered by stanbon)

Kathy stood on the middle rung of a ladder. She climbed up 5, down 3, up 8, and up 4 more (answered by ankor@dixie-net.com)

When rescuing a woman from a burning building, fireman found that the height of the... (answered by ankor@dixie-net.com)

Fran�ois is playing on a ladder. He starts out on the middle step. He then goes up 5... (answered by richwmiller)

A fire fighter stood on the middle rung of a ladder, went up 3 rungs, was forced downs... (answered by greenestamps)