I need help with the following problem. 
Someone spilled ink on a bill for 36 sweatshirts. If only the first and last
digits were covered and the other three digits were, in order, 8, 3, 9 as in
?83.9?, how much did each cost? 
I do not have a clue how to do this problem. Please help.
Thank you for your time, it is appreciated.
Sincerely,
R. Franke

The price was $_83.9_ or _839_ in pennies. 

Let's find the smallest possible price in pennies one shirt could have
cost. 

The smallest way to fill in those blanks is with a 1 in the first blank
and a 0 in the last blank, or 18390. But 18390 is not a multiple of 36.
The smallest multiple of 36 above that is 18396. Therefore the smallest
possible price for the 36 shirts must be 18396 which is 36×511.

So, hey, that's the answer! 36 shirts for 511 cents each or $5.11 each.
Or at least it's AN answer.

If 36 shirts cost 18396 pennies, then that cost in dollars is

$183.96.

I'm not sure if that's THE ONLY answer but it IS indeed AN answer.
Each shirt cost $5.11 and the price of 36 of them is $183.96.

Edwin