Question

Sam and Carla are traveling from Alanta to Merizona. If each city on the way is at an equal distance from its neighboring cities, how much distance will they have covered when they reach Bosto?

Answer 1

Distance between each pair of neighboring cities is the same.

Suppose this constant distance between each pair of neighboring cities is "d" units.

Let the total distance from Alanta to Merizona be 1 unit.

Then,
d + d + d + d = 1
4d = 1
d = 1/4
d = total distance / 4

Hence, distance from Atlanta to Bosto is 1/4 of the total distance.

Alternate Solution (without using variables):

The total distance of 1 unit between Alanta and Merizona (as shown in the figure) is divided into 4 equal parts by the cities Bosto, Cube City and Domar.

The distance between Alanta and Bosto is 1 part of the 4 equal parts making up the unit distance. So, the distance is 1/4 of the total distance between Alanta and Merizona.