At a recent fishing tournament, Alex caught 7 times as many fish as Jacob. Jacob did not think that he had any chance of winning, but Alex became overconfident and knocked over his bucket of fish, losing 23 fish back to the lake. If Jacob had 8 fish at the beginning, how many more fish does he need to catch to beat Alex by just 1 fish?
Thoughts? Step-by-step reasoning:
At the beginning, Jacob had 8 fish. Alex had 7 * 8 = 56 fish. After knocking the bucket over, Alex was left with 56 - 23 = 33 fish left. The final amount caught by Jacob to beat Alex by 1 fish is 33 + 1 = 34 fish. Then Jacob needs to catch 34 - 8 = 26 fish more.
Thus, the answer is 26.