2016 AMC 10A Problems/Problem 8

Problem

Trickster Rabbit agrees with Foolish Fox to double Fox's money every time Fox crosses the bridge by Rabbit's house, as long as Fox pays $40$ coins in toll to Rabbit after each crossing. The payment is made after the doubling, Fox is excited about his good fortune until he discovers that all his money is gone after crossing the bridge three times. How many coins did Fox have at the beginning?

$\textbf{(A)}\ 20 \qquad\textbf{(B)}\ 30\qquad\textbf{(C)}\ 35\qquad\textbf{(D)}\ 40\qquad\textbf{(E)}\ 45$

Solution

If you started backwards you would get: \[0\Rightarrow (+40)=40 , \Rightarrow \left(\frac{1}{2}\right)=20 , \Rightarrow (+40)=60 , \Rightarrow \left(\frac{1}{2}\right)=30 , \Rightarrow (+40)=70 , \Rightarrow \left(\frac{1}{2}\right)=\boxed{\textbf{(C) }35}\]

Solution 2

If you have $x$ as the amount of money Foolish Fox started with we have $2(2(2x-40)-40)-40=0.$ Solving this we get $\boxed{\textbf{(C) }35}$.

Video Solution

https://youtu.be/XXX4_oBHuGk?t=323

~IceMatrix

See Also

2016 AMC 10A (ProblemsAnswer KeyResources)
Preceded by
Problem 7
Followed by
Problem 9
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All AMC 10 Problems and Solutions

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