Chapter 5.3, Problem 45MS

Here we celebrate the power of algebra as a powerful way of finding unknown quantities by naming them, of expressing infinitely many relationships and connections clearly and succinctly, and of uncovering pattern and structure.

Tree house tangle. Your little sister needs help tying knots in a rope at 1-foot intervals for climbing up to and down from her tree house. She has a thick rope 12 feet long that, when knotted properly, will reach exactly to the ground. She needs a foot of rope to tie to the floor of the tree house and eight inches of rope for each of the six climbing knots. What’s the distance from the ground to the floor of the tree house?