percentages

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A dress is marked at 30% off. If the sale price is $20.97, what was the original price of the dress?
 
You have:

. . . . .(sale price) is (original price) less (30%) of (original price)

Recall that "is" means "equals", "less" means "minus", "of" means "times", and "30%" is "0.3" in numerical form. Then plug everything into the formula, using a variable for the unknown original price, and solve for that price.

Eliz.
 
Okay, take (the sale price)/(Percentage in numerical form)= original price


(20.97)/(.30)=
 
That won't actually work.

. . . . .20.97 ÷ 0.3 = 69.9

. . . . .30% of 69.9 is 20.97

. . . . .30% off from 69.9 is 48.93

...which is not the actual sale price. To use a formula like that, you'd have to divide by the percent being paid:

. . . . .(sale price) is (some percent) of (original price)

. . . . .(sale price) = (some percent) × (original price)

. . . . .(sale price) ÷ (some percent) = (original price)

Eliz.
 
When you find a percentage, you should first change the percentage to a fraction.

30%= 30/100

OF means multiply. So, you multiply 30/100 and 20.97
get it??? :lol:
 
gracierox77 said:
When you find a percentage, you should first change the percentage to a fraction.

30%= 30/100

OF means multiply. So, you multiply 30/100 and 20.97
get it??? :lol:

That is not correct. $20.97 is the discounted price. If you multiplied it by 30%, the answer you get would be 30% of $20.97. Here is one correct way to solve this problem.

Let x=original price
Then x-0.3x=20.97

x-0.3x=20.97
0.7x=20.97
x=29.96
 
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