Question 84872
The correct answer is in fact 49!!

let me confirm it for you.  If there are 49 steps, and you start at the middle step, that is step #25 (there would be 24 on one side, and 24 on the other, and you are on the middle step.)  Add 8 steps, so 33 is where you are now.  He walks down 12, so he's at 21 now.  He then takes one step up, so now he's at 22.  His three strides, or THREE STEPS EACH, mean he just went up 27 steps, he was at 22, added those 27, so there are 49 steps.


The reason 46 in the other answer is incorrect is you've missed the one step he took up.  After the 8 up, 12 down, 1 up (your missed one) he is THREE steps from the middle.  Then he takes 27 to the top.  Now remember, he is 3 from the middle, so after he reaches the middle, there are 24 steps left... so that is 24 steps from the middle to the top, but remember there is the OTHER side of the middle.  So again, 24 on each side, and he's in the middle step between them, making the total 49.