Four friends, Thomas, Mike, Brian, and John, went on a fishing trip. If Mike caught 4 more than Brian did, John caught 12 less than Thomas did, and Thomas caught 4 more than Mike did, how many more fish did Brian catch than John did?
Choose the correct choice from the following:	A) 6	B) 4	C) 8	D) 1	E) 12
In this word problem, the first key is to turn the story into equations:   Mike caught 4 more than Brian did: M = 4 + B   John caught 12 less than Thomas did: J = T - 12   Thomas caught 4 more than Mike did: T = 4 + M   Then, in classic GMAT style, the problem doesn't ask you to solve for a single variable, but instead to solve for the difference between B and J (how many more fish did Brian catch than John did?). This means that your goal is to get the equations in terms of B and J so that you can solve for the expression B - J.   Taking the first equation and solving for B, you have B = M - 4.   Taking the second equation and solving for J you have J = T - 12, and then with the third equation you can replace T with 4 + M so that both B and J are in terms of M: J = (4 + M) - 12.   So if 4 = M - 4 and J = M - 8, then:   4 - J = (M - 4) - (M - 8)   4 - J = M - 4 - M + 8 (remove the parentheses by distributing the multiplication)   4 - J = 4, so the answer is 4.
<result>B</result>
Four friends, Thomas, Mike, Brian, and John, went on a fishing trip. If Mike caught 4 more than Brian did, John caught 12 less than Thomas did, and Thomas caught 4 more than Mike did, how many more fish did Brian catch than John did?