This is a very easy problem that needs simple arithmetric and addition.
A person is standing on a staircase. He walks down 4 steps, up 3 steps, down 6 steps, up 2 steps, up 9 steps, and down 2 steps. Where is he standing in relation to the step on which he started?
You can take the original position as point zero and add and subract the steps as they go up and down as follows:
Original Position = 0
Down 4 steps = 0 - 4 = -4
Up 3 steps = -4 + 3 = -1
Down 6 steps = -1 - 6 = -7
Up 2 steps = -7 + 2 = -5
Up 9 steps = -5 + 9 = 4
and down 2 steps = 4 - 2 = 2
The answer is (A) - 2 steps above the original position.
I have some questions though. Is this a GRE level question and how can you recognise easy and questions that are tricky and require elegant or time consuming solutions in the GRE quant section.
Carcass kindly help out.