Question

Miguel is riding in a bike race that goes through a valley and a nearby mountain range.
The table gives the altitude (in feet above sea level) for the five checkpoints in the race.
Use the table to answer the questions.

Checkpoint Altitude
(feet above sea level)
1 863
2 1,586
3 -41
4 -169
5 3,199

(a) How much higher is Checkpoint 2 than Checkpoint 4?

(b) The top of a hill rises 500 feet above Checkpoint 4. What is the altitude of the top of the hill?

Answer 1

a) "how much higher is checkpoint 2 than checkpoint 4" ---> subtract checkpoint 2 - checkpoint 4's height (again, being careful with signs)

b) top of the hill is 500 feet above checkpoint 4 ---> add 500 + the height of checkpoint 4

Answer 2

So I got,
(a) -754
and
(b) 331

Answer 3

agree with b, but check a) again

checkpoint 2 - checkpoint 4 = 1586 - (-169) = ?

also a helpful tip, if it asks "how much higher (A) is than (B)" your result will be a positive number, since it's asking for the net difference of two heights

Answer 4

That was very helpful, thank you so much.