The formula for finding the sales price of an item is:
#s = p - (p * d)#
Where
#s# is the sales price: $258.40 for this problem.
#p# is the original price of the item: what we are solving for in this problem.
#d# is the discount on the item. 62% for this problem. "Percent" or "%" means "out of 100" or "per 100", Therefore 62% can be written as #62/100#.
Substituting and solving for #p# gives:
#$258.40 = p - (p * 62/100)#
#$258.40 = 1p - 62/100p#
#$258.40 = 100/100p - 62/100p#
#$258.40 = (100/100 - 62/100)p#
#$258.40 = 38/100p#
#color(red)(100)/color(blue)(38) xx $258.40 = color(red)(100)/color(blue)(38) xx 38/100p#
#($25840.00)/color(blue)(38) = cancel(color(red)(100))/cancel(color(blue)(38)) xx color(blue)(cancel(color(black)(38)))/color(red)(cancel(color(black)(100)))p#
#$680.00 = p#
#p = $680.00#
The original price of the table was $680.00
