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 ?

Correct Option: (b) 9

A person is initially standing on the first step from the bottom of a ladder, which is Step 1. The problem states that he needs to climb 4 more steps to reach exactly the middle step of the ladder. Position of the middle step = 1 (current step) + 4 (additional steps) = 5th step from the bottom. Since the 5th step is exactly the middle step of the ladder, it divides the ladder into two equal parts: the steps below the middle step and the steps above it. There are exactly 4 steps below the 5th step (Steps 1, 2, 3, and 4). To make the 5th step the exact middle, there must also be exactly 4 steps above it (Steps 6, 7, 8, and 9). Therefore, the total number of steps in the ladder is: Total steps = 4 (below) + 1 (middle) + 4 (above) = 9 steps. Alternatively, if N is the total steps, the middle step is (N + 1) / 2 = 5, which gives N = 9.