Maria and Edwin have $23.00 each to spend at a book fair, where all students receive a 25% discount. They both want to purchase
a copy of the same book, which normally sells for $26.50 plus 10% sales tax. To check if she has enough to purchase the book, Maria takes 25% of $26.50 and subtracts that amount from the normal price. She takes 10% of the discounted selling price and adds it back to find the purchase amount. Edwin takes 75% of the normal purchase price and then computes 110% of the reduced price. Is Maria correct? Is Edwin correct? Do they have enough money to purchase the book? Explain your answer using complete sentences, and show your work.
The way Maria calculates the final price of the book is correct. We know that the book normally sells for $26.50 plus a 10% sales tax. We also know that the students will receive an additional 25% discount. We must understand that the sales tax is applied to the discounted price. So first we will calculate 25% of 26.50 and subtract it from that amount. So the price will then be: (26.50 - 6.625). The price is now $18.34. Then to calculate the tax, it will be (10% * 18.34), so 1.834. We add this amount to the discounted price so: (18.34+1.834) = 20.12.
The final price of the book is $20.12 and Maria can get it and still save a little money
They are both correct, the only difference is Maria did a two step process and Edwin did a one step process the total amount it would cost is $21.87 with $1.13 left over.
