2022 AMC 12A Problems/Problem 2

Revision as of 19:16, 11 November 2022 by Phuang1024 (talk | contribs) (Formatting.)

Problem

The sum of three numbers is $96$. The first number is $6$ times the third number, and the third number is $40$ less than the second number. What is the absolute value of the difference between the first and second numbers?

Solution

Let $x$ be the third number. It follows that the first number is $6x$ and the second number is $x+40$. Using the given sum of the numbers, we obtain the equation $(6x)+(x+40)+x = 96$, which solves $x=7$.

The first number is $6x = 6(7) = 42$, and the second number is $x+40 = 7+40 = 47$, and the difference between the two is $\boxed{(E) 5}$.

- phuang1024