Solution to Puzzle #36: Professor on the Escalator

This one turned out to be a little difficult for children who do not know algebra, and hence I did not get correct answer from any of the younger kids. Congratulations to Ruchir Godura and Varun Gupta for being the first ones to send the right answer.

I have attempted to explain the answer without algebra for younger children, though I must confess that it is not easy.

For folks who know algebra, I am reproducing the answer sent by Varun:

Assume the staircase to be x. While coming down- Man took 50 steps, in the same time lift came down x-50 steps.

While going up man took 125 steps, lift came down by 125- x steps.

As man ran 5 times as fast as coming down, he would have climbed down 25 steps in same time or ( x-50)/2 lift steps.

Equating (x-50)/2= 125- x, we get steps to be 100.

Hope you enjoyed the puzzle!

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