Well I don't know ! Let's get together and work it out.
We don't know the original price yet, but we need to give it a name so that we can work with it in math equations and stuff. I'm going to call it OP.
OP was reduced by 45% before Fred came along. That means that 45% of OP was cut off and discarded. How much of it was left ? Well, before it was reduced, 100% of it was marked on the price tag. After 45% was cut off, there was (100% - 45%) = 55% of it left.
That's what Fred paid for the one he bought . . . 55% of OP.
55% of OP is $124 .
We have to change that sentence into math.
-- 55% means 0.55 -- "of" means "times" -- "is" means 'equals sign'
So now we can write: 0.55 x OP = $124
There's the equation. Now, divide each side by 0.55, and you get OP = $124 / 0.55
