Abby takes 6 steps forward, then 2 steps back. If she repeats this pattern, how many steps will she be from where she started after 4 moves? After 5 moves?

I answered this yesterday.

http://www.jiskha.com/display.cgi?id=1349126404

To figure out how many steps Abby will be from where she started after 4 moves, we need to keep track of her forward and backward steps.

In each move, Abby takes 6 steps forward and 2 steps back. Since she repeats this pattern, we can group every 6 forward steps and every 2 backward steps as a single "step unit".

After 4 moves, Abby will have taken 4 step units. In each step unit, Abby takes 6 steps forward and 2 steps back, resulting in a net movement of 4 steps forward.

Therefore, after 4 moves, Abby will be 4 steps away from where she started.

To determine how many steps Abby will be from where she started after 5 moves, we need to calculate the additional movement caused by the fifth move.

After 4 moves, Abby is 4 steps away from her starting point. In the fifth move, she takes 6 steps forward and then 2 steps back, which results in a net movement of 4 steps forward.

Therefore, after 5 moves, Abby will still be 4 steps away from where she started.