A Puzzle A Day: 2026-04-06

During a school field trip to the local history museum, Ms. Davis's class is riding in a special vintage trolley car. The trolley line starts at the school and makes several stops before reaching the museum. The entire track from the school (Stop #1) to the museum (the very last stop) is exactly 3.6 kilometers long. If each stop along the route, including the first and last, is spaced precisely 400 meters apart, how many stops does the trolley car make in total from the school to the museum?
Correct: 10
This is a classic 'fencepost problem'. First, convert the total distance to meters: 3.6 kilometers = 3600 meters. The distance between each stop is 400 meters. To find the number of segments (or intervals) between the stops, divide the total distance by the distance between stops: 3600 meters / 400 meters/segment = 9 segments. Since each segment has a stop at both its beginning and end, the number of stops is always one more than the number of segments. Think of it like a row of fence posts: 1 segment needs 2 posts, 2 segments need 3 posts, and so on. Therefore, 9 segments require 9 + 1 = 10 stops in total.
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