Question

Dana bought 3 shirts and a belt. Each shirt cost the same amount and the belt cost $85.75. The total Dana paid was $162.25 before a 7.6% sales tax was added. If a 15% discount was applied to each shirt, how much did one shirt cost including tax?

Answer 1

$27.44

Explanation:

If the total amount paid was BEFORE the tax, the tax value is irrelevant to the price part of the problem. Only the 15% discount on the shirts needs to be included. A 15% ‘discount’ means that that price paid was 85% of the original price.

If the original price of a shirt is “S” then the equation of the costs is:
`3*0.85*S + 85.75 = 162.25`
Perform the indicated multiplication and subtract 85.75 from both sides.

`2.55*S = 76.5` Divide both sides by 2.55

S = 30 This is the ORIGINAL price of a shirt.

Dana’s cost of a shirt (including the discount) was 0.8530 = 25.50.
Including the 7.6% sales tax he paid a total of
25.50 + (25.500.076) = $27.44 per shirt.