Question

A woman bought a dress at a discount of 16 2/3%. If the woman paid $32.50, what was the original price of the dress?

Answer 1

Let's let x equal the original price of the dress.

We know that 16.6666% is equal to 0.16666 in decimal form by dividing the percent by 100.

So we can set up the equation:

$x-0.16666x=32.50$

because we know the discount, and we know that the discount of the original price was subtracted from the original price.

So then let's simplify by taking out x, the common factor:

$x(1-0.16666)=32.50$

Then solve for x:

$x(0.83333)=32.50$

$\frac{x(0.83333)}{0.83333} =\frac{32.50}{0.83333}$

$x=39$

So now we know that the original price of the dress was $39.