A cat likes to play on stairs. Starting at the bottom landing, the cat jumped up 4 steps, then down 2 steps. Then the cat jumped up 5 steps and fell down 3. In two more jumps of 4 steps and then 2 steps, the cat reached the top of the stairs. How many steps are in the staircase?

(4-2) + (5-3) + 4 + 2 = ....

Six

To find out how many steps are in the staircase, we can analyze the jumps made by the cat.

Let's start with the first jump: the cat jumped up 4 steps. Then it came down 2 steps. This means that the cat ended up 2 steps higher than before the first jump.

In the second jump, the cat jumped up 5 steps before falling down 3 steps. This means that it ended up 2 steps higher again.

Finally, in the last two jumps of 4 steps and 2 steps, the cat remained at the same height because it jumped up 4 steps and then down 2 steps, which cancel each other out.

So, we can conclude that each complete set of two jumps moves the cat 2 steps higher.

Now, let's find out how many sets of two jumps the cat made. It started at the bottom landing, made a total of 6 jumps (4 jumps up and 2 jumps down), and ended at the top of the stairs.

Since each set of two jumps adds 2 steps to the cat's position, we can divide the total number of jumps the cat made (6 jumps) by the number of steps added per set (2 steps) to find the number of sets of two jumps.

6 jumps ÷ 2 steps = 3 sets of two jumps

Therefore, the cat made 3 sets of two jumps.

Since each set of two jumps moves the cat 2 steps higher, we can multiply the number of sets of two jumps (3 sets) by the number of steps added per set (2 steps) to find the total number of steps the cat climbed.

3 sets of two jumps × 2 steps = 6 steps

So, the cat climbed a total of 6 steps.