Question

The salesperson earn $172 in COMMISSION last week. How much money, in dollars, did he have in SALES last week?

Answer 1

We know that the total amount of sales last week was $3,640, so 100% of sales is $3,640. We also  know that the commission earned last week is $172, so we need to find what percentage of $3,640 is $172. To do that we are going to establish a proportion as follows:
$\frac{3640---\ \textgreater \ 100}{172---\ \textgreater \ x}$
$\frac{100}{172} = \frac{100}{x}$
Now we just solve for $x$:
$x= \frac{(172)(100)}{3640}$
$x=4.73$

We can conclude that our sales person has a commission of 4.73% over the total amount of sells per week. Since the commission of the last week was $172, the total sales was $3640 because the 4.73% of $3640 is $172.