Harry started a 6-mile hike with a full 10-cup canteen of wa

10 cups at beginning.

1 cup remaining at end so total 9 cups of water lost

1 cup per hour leakage , so in 2 hrs 2 cups of water lost

9-2 = 7

last 1 mile he drank 3 cups , so for first 5 miles total water used = 7-3 = 4

so per mile 4/5

How many of us lost our cool looking at the questions.
Well I did, I had faced this during a test and blah I hate these long questions.

Anyways assuming this is a super simple question I will really focus on the understanding and breaking down the question in the hour of need.

Initial data
Total mile=6
Total time=2 hours
total reserve =10 cups
remaining reserver =10-1=9 cups

Due to leakage lost canteen cups =2
Drank in last stint=3
Total canteen lost+used=5
Remamining canteen =9-5=4
miles in question =5

Hence the ans=4/5

GMAT Please give me such questions in the main test.

I read all of the explanations above and i wasn't convinced on one thing. I had the below reasoning while solving this question and never reached the correct answer. Plz tell me whats wrong with this:

The question asked about the first 5 miles of the trip. So, IMO, the quantity of water that was lost due to because of the leak should also be calculated for the first 5 miles and not for the complete trip. Thus the water lost would be less than 2.

Here's what i calculated:
Total water initially = 10 cups
Total water used (including leak) in 6 miles = 9 cups
Total water used (including leak) in first 5 miles = 9-3 = 6 cups

Problem starts here (all say 2 cups leaked and subtract it from 6 to get 4, i differ)

Time taken to cover first 5 miles: \(\frac{5}{3}\) hours (speed is 3 mph)
Water leaked in 5/3 hours: \(\frac{5}{3}\) cups (leak speed is 1 cup per hr)
Total water he drank during the first 5 miles: \(6-\frac{5}{3}\) cups
= \(\frac{13}{3}\) cups
Water drank per mile during the first 5 miles: \(\frac{13}{15}\)

Why am i wrong?

Hello from the GMAT Club BumpBot!

Thanks to another GMAT Club member, I have just discovered this valuable topic, yet it had no discussion for over a year. I am now bumping it up - doing my job. I think you may find it valuable (esp those replies with Kudos).

Want to see all other topics I dig out? Follow me (click follow button on profile). You will receive a summary of all topics I bump in your profile area as well as via email.