Question

A pet store has k tanks of fish. Each tank has 26 fish. Using k, write an expression for the total number of fish in the store.

Answer 1

Recall that:

$a\times n=\underbrace{a+a+\cdots+a\,}_{ n \text{ times}}.$

Since the pet store has k tanks with 26 fish on each tank, then the pet store has:

$\underbrace{26+26+\cdots+26\,}_{k\text{ times}}$

fish in total.

Now, notice that:

$\underbrace{26+26+\cdots+26\,}_{k\text{ times}}=26\times k=26k.$

Answer:

$26k.$