Question 535954: Cara walked 1 km west. The she walked twice as far going East. She continued east for another 4 km, stopping 2 km east of Alberta's home. When cara started waling, how far and in which direction was she from Alberta's home? Explain.
Answer by KMST(5399)   (Show Source):
You can put this solution on YOUR website! Let's put mile (I mean kilometer) markers along the way. We'll put the zero marker at Alberta's home, markers labeled 1, 2, 3, etc at 1, 2, 3, and so on km to the East. The markers to the West will be -1, -2, -3, and so on at 1, 2, 3, ... km.
So we have a very large number line.
Cara starts a marker x, x miles to the East of Alberta's house. (If x is negative, it will turn out that she started at a point to the West of Alberta's). We'll add the distances she walks to the East. When she walks to the West, we will add the corresponding negative number.
Cara's starts at marker x.
She walks 1 km west, and ends at marker x-1.
She walks twice as far going East (2 km), and ends at marker x-1+2.
She continues East for another 4 km, and ends at marker x-1+2+4.
At that point she stops and realizes that she is at marker 2.
 ---> 
She started 3 km to the West of Alberta's house.
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