Laura paid $17 for a pair of jeans. The ticketed price was 20% off the original price plus the sign on the rack said, "Take an additional 15% off the ticketed price." What was the original price of the jeans?
Call the original price of the jeans x. First 20% is deduct from the original cost (the original cost is 100%); 80% of the original cost is left (100% - 20% = 80%); 80% of x is 0.80x. The cost of the jeans after the ?rst discount is 0.80x. This price is then discounted 15%. Remember
15% is taken off the discounted price; 85% of the discounted price is left. Multiply the discounted price by 0.85 to ?nd out the price of the jeans after the second discount; (0.85)(0.80x) is the cost of the jeans after both discounts. We are told in which this price is $17. Set the two expressions for the cost of the jeans equal to each other (0.85)(0.80x) = $17 and solve
for x (the original cost of the jeans). (0.85)(0.80x) = 17
0.68x = 17
0.68x /0.68 = 17/0.68
X = 25
The original price of the jeans was $25.