Problem number 17, a grasshopper wants to climb a staircase with many steps. She makes only two kinds of jumps, 3 steps up or 4 steps down. Beginning at ground level, at least how many jumps will she have to make in order to take a rest on the 22nd step? 7, 9, 10, 12, or 15. Every time she jumps, it's either going to be 3 steps up or 4 steps down. First we're going to make an estimate of how many jumps up the grasshopper has to make to get very close to the 22nd step. So my estimate for jumps up is going to be 7, because 7 times 3 is 21. So 7 jumps up equals going to the 21st step. Now you're going to keep jumping up and down to get closer to the 22nd step. So if she jumps up again, she is at the 24th step. So now if we jump down, we are to the 20th step. If she jumps up again, she will get to the 23rd. Now she's going to jump down again. And now she's at 19. And if she jumps up again, you're at the 22nd because 19 plus 3 is 22. So now we are at the 22nd step. So it took us 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, and 12 jumps, which means our answer is D, 12.

grasshopper

staircase

jumps

steps

22nd