Answer:
1.75 gallons
Step-by-step explanation:
First, we need to calculate how far the hike is going up the trail. They first hike 2 miles and then another 1.75 miles after resting so...
2 + 1.75 = 3.75 miles
The trail is 3.75 miles long, the question states that the return path is 0.5 miles shorter, therefore...
3.75 - 0.5 = 3.25 miles
Leaving us with a total hiking distance of
3.75 + 3.25 = 7 miles.
Since each hiker will carry 0.25 gallons for each mile we simply need to multiply this amount by the total number of miles in the hike.
7 * 0.25 = 1.75 gallons
Finally, we can see that each hiker will carry a total of 1.75 gallons of water for the entire hike.
