Please Help

Question

What if a caterpillar is climbing out of a glass that is 12 inches high and can climb 1.5 inches in an hour but slides and falls back .5 inches during the hour it rests. How long will it take the caterpillar to climb to the top of the jar?

Answer 1

Catherine, this has to deal with net movement. If I take two steps forward and three steps back, I'm a step behind where I started.

 

In an hour, our caterpillar climbs 1.5 inches in an hour and slides down .5 inches in another hour, how far from the bottom is it? 1 inch! Next it climbs to 2.5 inches and slides down to 2 inches. 

 

If it ends up an inch further up every two hours, I know you can figure out the answer!