How do you solve this problem, it's confusing for me.

Question : Kermit hopped 10 feet to the right. He then took three green power hops to the left. If the total jump length is 28 feet, how long is a green power jump?



Answer :

28-10=18

18 / 3 = 6

each power hop is 6 feet long
if 28 is the distance that he is from the starting point then
so 10 to the right
+10
then 3 to the left
-3powerjump
10-3pj
total jump length must be to the left because 10 is less than 28 and he can't jump negative feet
absolute value
|10-3p|=28
since we assume that he jumped 28 feet to the left, we can assuume
10-3p=-28
subtract 10 from both sides
-3p=-38
divide by -3
powerjump=12 2/3

or if the problem is he jumped 28 feet in total then
10+3p=28
subtract 10 from both sdies
3p=18
divie by 3
powerjump=6