Question

Marta bought 3 towels for $8.50 and 5 washcloths for $1.25 each. If the sales tax rate is 8%, what is the total amount of money Marta?

Answer 1

Marta will have to pay $34.29 in total.

Explanation:

1. Determine the subtotal of Marta's purchase. Since she bought 5 washcloths at $1.25 each, simply multiply 5 and $1.25 together to get $6.25. Similarly, multiply 3 and $8.50 together to get $25.50.

2. Add together $6.25 and $25.50, which is $31.75. This is her subtotal before tax.

3. The tax rate is 8%, which means that multiplying together 0.08 and $31.75 will give you $2.54. This is the sales tax on Marta's subtotal.

4. Finally, add $31.75 and $2.54 to get $34.29, which is the total amount Marta has to pay for her towels.

Alternatively, for step 3, you could multiply $31.75 by 1.08. The '1' represents the subtotal, while the '.08' represents the sales tax that is to be applied to the subtotal.