can someone explain this??

[smurf528]

Okay, this might be an easy question but I don't understand how the answer is gotten. I got $30.

A coat is on sale for 25% off. If the coat on sale cost $24, what was the original price of the coat?

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[Murl]

So you actually pay 75% for the coat.
Let X= the regular price of the coat.

(0.75)x=24

I get $32

 

[jd399]

the coat now is 24.. so u have to times 25 percent which gives u six... add six plus 24 is 30

 

[smurf528]

Why wouldn't you just take 25% of $24 and then add that to $24? Wouldn't that ($30) be the original price. $32 is right I just don't understand why.

 

[Murl]

Because you are taking 25% of a smaller number. You want to take25% off the original price, not add 25% to the sell price. Do this as a practice problem:

What percent would you have to multiply $24 by to get the original price of the coat that cost $32 dollars?

 

[Adrop]

Let me break this down for you.

The coat is now $24 (after the 25% sale from original price), what the questions is asking is simply is "25% of what number is 24?" since the original value is not given but 25% of "unknown" is given.

In other words what this means is 75% of x is 24.

Let x = original price

Simple equation:
0.75x = 24
x = 24/0.75 = 32

Longer way (if it makes you understand better):
x - 0.25x = 24
0.75x = 24
x = 24/0.75 = 32

Better now?

 

[Kneecoal]

yeah, you have to think of it as:

24/x = 75/100

because you're actually paying for 75% of the original cost. 25% of the sale price isn't going to be the same as 25% of the original price.