A bookworm finds itself on page 1 of volume 1 and begins eating straight through to the last page of volume 5.If each book is 6 centimeters thick,including the front and back covers,which are half a centimeter each what is the distance the bookworm travels?

Question

I think the problem is flawed because the number of pages are not given. Since the bookworm eats TO the last page (not through the last page), there is no way to calculate the thickness of the last page.

The books are 6 cm -0.5cm (front cover) - 0.5 cm (back cover) = 5 cm thick for the pages.
Starting on page 1 of vol 1, the bookworm will eat 5 cm + 0.5 for the back cover = ??

vol 2 = front cover + book + back cover = 0.5 cm + 5 cm + 0.5 cm= ??

vol 3 = same as vol 2 = ??

vol 4 = same as vol 2 = ??

vol 5 = front cover of 0.5 cm + all pages except the last page (the problem says the bookworm eats TO the last page, not through the last page.) So he/she eats 0.5 cm for front cover + [5 cm x (# pages - 1)/# pages)] =??

Add them together if you know the # pages that make up 5 cm OR if you want to interpret the question as eating through the last page of volume 5, you can see how that is done.

Answer 1

I was 2 when you posted this wth