I hope I am reading the problem right: The price of a mountain bike increased by 20% in the past year. The value is $150. What was the value of the mountain bike last year?
Let's simplify this. One year, there was this radical mountain bike that used to have an unsaid price, <em>x. </em>That year, that price of x increased by 20% more than it was before, or <em>120% times the original value</em>. Because of that, it's now $150.
We can equation this.
1.20x = 150
x = 150/1.2
x = 125
The bike, I believe, cost $125 last year. Hope this helps!