I caught 4 fewer fish than the number in my tank and added them to my fish tank. If the tank has 20 fish right now, how many did I add?
Define a variable ** Let's say the number of fish that was in the tank before was x
How many fish did you catch? ** If you caught 4 fewer fish than the number that was there, then you caught x-4
Write an equation ** After adding x-4 fish into the tank, the tank now had 20 fish, meaning the total number of fish in the tank is x+x-4=20
Combine like terms ** 2x=20+4
How many fish were initially in the tank? ** The total number of fish that was initially in the tank is 2x=24
How many fish were initially in the tank? ** Initially, there were x=24/2 fish in the tank
Divide by 2 ** x=<<12=12>>12
How many fish did you catch? ** If you caught 4 fewer fish than the number in my tank initially, you caught 12-4=<<12-4=8>>8 fish.
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