So in part a we need to find the altitude of the hill. We know its difference with checkpoint 2 is 338 feet. This means that:
[tex]\text{Altitude of the top of the hill}-338ft=\text{Altitude of checkpoint 2}[/tex]
If I use h for the altitude of the top of the hill and -193ft for the altitude of checkpoint 2 as the table states we get:
[tex]\begin{gathered} h-338ft=-193ft \\ \text{If I add 338 ft at both sides of the equation:} \\ h-338ft+338ft=-193ft+338ft \\ h=145ft \end{gathered}[/tex]
Then the altitude of the top of the hill is 145ft.
In part b we need to find how much lower is checkpoint 2 than checkpoint 4. This basically means that we must find the difference between their altitudes. This is given by taking checkpoint 4's altitude and substracting checkpoint 2's altitude:
[tex]2475ft-(-193ft)=2475ft+193ft=2668ft[/tex]
Then checkpoint 2 is 2668ft lower than checkpoint 4.