Question

Paula received a paycheck of $585. This amount reflects her weekly earnings less 10% of her earnings for deductions. How much was she paid before deductions were taken out?

Answer 1

In order to do this we must set up an equation
We are looking for the original amount she was paid, which we'll represent by the variable X
We know that $585 is X minus 10% of X
This means that $585 is 90% of X (or X times 0.90)
So, our equation is

X(0.90)=585

In order to solve this, we can divide both sides by 0.90

X=650

So, she was originally paid $650