Question

If you pay $26.50 for an item including 6% sales tax what was the original price?

Answer 1

Think of the problem this way:

$26.50 = 100% of the original price + 6% of the original price (sales tax)

Now, we have this information.

$26.50 = 106% of the original price.

There is no way you can just get 106% to 100%. So, we're going to find 1% of the original price, then multiply by 100.

And since $265 = 1060% of the original price:

$53 = 212% of the original price

53/212 = $1/4

$0.25 = 1% of the original price

$25 = 100% of the original price

Your answer is $25.