2024 AMC 8 Problems/Problem 12

Problem

Rohan keeps a total of 90 guppies in 4 fish tanks.

  • There is 1 more guppy in the 2nd tank than in the 1st tank.
  • There are 2 more guppies in the 3rd tank than in the 2nd tank.
  • There are 3 more guppies in the 4th tank than in the 3rd tank.

How many guppies are in the 4th tank?

$\textbf{(A)}\ 20 \qquad \textbf{(B)}\ 21 \qquad \textbf{(C)}\ 23 \qquad \textbf{(D)}\ 24 \qquad \textbf{(E)}\ 26$

Solution 1

Let $x$ denote the number of guppies in the first tank.

Then, we have the following for the number of guppies in the rest of the tanks:

  • $x + 1 =$ the number of guppies in the second tank
  • $x + 1 + 2 =$ the number of guppies in the third tank
  • $x + 1 + 2 + 3 =$ the number of guppies in the fourth tank

The number of guppies in all of the tanks combined is 90, so we can write the equation

$x + x + 1 + x + 1 + 2 + x + 1 + 2 + 3 = 90$.

Simplifying the equation gives

$4x + 10 = 90$.

Solving the resulting equation gives $x = 20$, so the number of guppies in the fourth tank is $20 + 1 + 2 + 3 = 26$.

Therefore, the correct answer is $\boxed{\textbf{(E)}\ 26}$.

- C. Ren ~andliu766 (Minor edits)

Solution 2

Suppose there are no guppies in the first tank.

Then, the number of guppies in the other tanks are $1,3,$ and $6,$ or $10$ guppies in total.

We need to add $90 - 10 = 80$ guppies into $4$ tanks or $20$ guppies in each tank.

So the number of guppies in the fourth tank is $20 + 6 = \boxed{\textbf{(E)}\ 26}.$

vladimir.shelomovskii@gmail.com, vvsss

Video Solution by Math-X (First fully understand the problem!!!)

https://youtu.be/BaE00H2SHQM?si=XRr6hG8Mzai3OK-n&t=2749

~Math-X

Video Solution (A Clever Explanation You’ll Get Instantly)

https://youtu.be/5ZIFnqymdDQ?si=tmv7XmwLdPVqHRxy&t=1271

~hsnacademy

Video Solution 1 (easy to digest) by Power Solve

https://youtu.be/2UIVXOB4f0o?si=e1Q2EbdEfPB_Q5Ql&t=66 hello

Video Solution 2 by SpreadTheMathLove

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RRTxlduaDs8

Video Solution by NiuniuMaths (Easy to understand!)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V-xN8Njd_Lc

~NiuniuMaths

Video Solution by CosineMethod [🔥Fast and Easy🔥]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u5sC6tftndU

Video Solution by Interstigation

https://youtu.be/ktzijuZtDas&t=1144

Video Solution by Dr. David

https://youtu.be/GTSragg_268

Video Solution by WhyMath

https://youtu.be/Gub5HfwfI1A

See Also

2024 AMC 8 (ProblemsAnswer KeyResources)
Preceded by
Problem 11
Followed by
Problem 13
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25
All AJHSME/AMC 8 Problems and Solutions

The problems on this page are copyrighted by the Mathematical Association of America's American Mathematics Competitions. AMC logo.png