1996 AMC 8 Problem 2

Attempt Problem 2 of the 1996 AMC 8 below, then check your answer against the professionally curated solution from LIVE by Po-Shen Loh. You can also try the full timed exam, view all 1996 AMC 8 solutions, or check the answer key.

All problems are used with official legal permission of the Mathematical Association of America (MAA).

2.

José, Thuy, and Kareem each start with the number 10.10. José subtracts 11 from the number 10,10, doubles his answer, and then adds 2.2. Thuy doubles the number 10,10, subtracts 11 from her answer, and then adds 2.2. Kareem subtracts 11 from the number 10,10, adds 22 to his answer, and then doubles the result. Who gets the largest final answer?
José
Thuy
Kareem
José and Thuy
Thuy and Kareem
Answer: C
Concepts:order of operations
Small hint:
Work out each person’s three steps in order, beginning with 1010
Big hint:
The order of the steps matters; notice who doubles last, so the 22 they added also gets doubled
Solution:
Starting from 10,10, José computes 9,9, 18,18, 20;20; Thuy computes 20,20, 19,19, 21;21; and Kareem computes 9,9, 11,11, 22.22.
Kareem doubles last, so the 22 he adds is doubled too, giving the largest result.
Thus, the correct answer is C .
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