meep
it's not a simple math problem as others have pointed out ... it can't be. One would have to be srinting pretty fast to go up a down escalator in only a few more steps than they other way. And homer doesn't sprint. so it's trick of words...If the building is shut down, he probably didn't get to go home or even down the escalator, not for a while at least. And once they un-shut down the escalator it began running again, and he didn't have to walk along it, he could just stay still and it'd move for him. When I walk up a down escalator, it takes me a kajillion steps to get up... and going down it takes me none, 'cause I just stand there. So he ate nothing. He died that day.