A person is standing on the first step from the bottom of a ladder. If he has to climb 4 more steps to reach exactly the middle step, how many steps does the ladder have?
Answer & explanation
Answer: (b) 9
Step 1 plus 4 more is step 5, the middle step. A middle step with 4 steps below it has 4 above it too, so the ladder has 9 steps.
- He stands on step 1; 4 more steps bring him to step 5.
- Step 5 is the middle, so there are 4 steps below it and 4 above it.
- Total = 4 + 1 + 4 = 9.
Remember · If the kth item is exactly the middle one, the total is 2k − 1.
Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper II (2016, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). ·