AMC 10 · 2007 · #1

Grade 6 arithmetic
percentagemulti-digit-arithmeticidentify-subproblems identify-subproblems ↑ Prerequisites: percentage
📏 Short solution 💡 1 insight
Problem
Tickets cost 20 dollars each at full price. One person buys 4 with a 25 percent coupon, another buys 5 with a 30 percent coupon. Find how much more the second pays.

Pick an answer.

(A)
2
(B)
5
(C)
10
(D)
15
(E)
20
How to solve
Strategy Identify Subproblems

The question compares two people, so Tool #7 (Identify Subproblems) splits it into three clean pieces: what Susan pays, what Pam pays, and the difference between them. Inside each piece the work is the same shape — full-price total, then apply that buyer's percent discount. Tool #8 (Analyze the Units) keeps every number in dollars so the discount is taken on a dollar total and the final subtraction compares dollars to dollars.

1STEP 1

Full-price cost for each buyer

The full prices come to 80 and 100.

4×20=80, 5×20=100
2STEP 2

Apply Susan's 25% discount

The first discount leaves 60.

25%×80=20, 80-20=60
3STEP 3

Apply Pam's 30% discount

The second, larger discount still leaves 70.

30%×100=30, 100-30=70
4STEP 4

Compare the two totals

Comparing gives 10, choice (C).

70-60=10 → (C)
Answer
10
The numbers are small and easy to sanity-check: Susan pays 60andPampays60 and Pam pays70, both under their full-price totals of 80and80 and100, and both are whole dollars because the percents divide evenly. Pam buys more tickets and still pays only 10moreevenwithabiggerdiscount,whichfitsherextraticketaddscostwhilethedeeperdiscountpullsitbackdown.Theanswer10 more even with a bigger discount, which fits — her extra ticket adds cost while the deeper discount pulls it back down. The answer10 sits in the middle of the choices, matching the modest gap you'd expect.
💡Key takeaway

Find each person's full-price total first, take their percent off, then subtract the two final prices to compare.

  • Full-price cost for each buyer
  • Apply Susan's 25% discount
  • Apply Pam's 30% discount
  • Compare the two totals