SOLUTION: A college book store marks up the price that it pays the publisher for a book by 35%. If the selling price of a book is $92.00, how much did the bookstore pay for this book? Let

Question 1208713: A college book store marks up the price that it pays the publisher for a book by 35%. If the selling price of a book is $92.00, how much did the bookstore pay for this book?
Let me see.
Let x = money the store paid for the book
The store sold the book for $92 after marking up the price they paid for the book by 35%.
This is where I start guessing my way to the equation I hope is correct to solve the problem. After more than 15 minutes with this question, I gave up.
This is my equation based on my understanding:
0.35x = 92.00
Obviously, I am wrong because the correct answer is $68.15.
What equation setup leads to $68.15?
Found 3 solutions by josgarithmetic, MathTherapy, greenestamps:
Answer by josgarithmetic(39621)   (Show Source): You can put this solution on YOUR website!
Bookstore paid x for a book.

Bookstore sells the book for ;
and as marked on the shelf this is

Actual cost for bookstore to buy book

Answer by MathTherapy(10555)   (Show Source): You can put this solution on YOUR website!

A college book store marks up the price that it pays the publisher for a book by 35%. If the selling price of a book is $92.00, how much did the bookstore pay for this book? Let me see. Let x = money the store paid for the book The store sold the book for $92 after marking up the price they paid for the book by 35%. This is where I start guessing my way to the equation I hope is correct to solve the problem. After more than 15 minutes with this question, I gave up. This is my equation based on my understanding: 0.35x = 92.00 Obviously, I am wrong because the correct answer is $68.15. What equation setup leads to $68.15? A DISCOUNT of 35% gives you a SELLING PERCENT of 1 - .35 = .65, or 65%. However, a MARKUP of 35% gives you a SELLING PERCENT of 1 + .35 = 1.35% So, since this is a MARKUP, instead of .35x, you should have 1.35x as part of your equation. Capiche??

Answer by greenestamps(13203)   (Show Source): You can put this solution on YOUR website!

In the work you show, you started with x for what the bookstore paid for the book. That's a good start, since it is what the problem asks you to find.

With the 35% markup, the expression 0.35x represents the AMOUNT of the markup.

Your equation is

0.35x = 92.00

But 0.35x is only the amount of the markup. The $92 price of the book is what the bookstore paid for the book, PLUS the 35% markup:

x + 0.35x = 92.00

Similar to the problem I helped you with a while ago, you will be better with setting up the equation correctly if you write out more of your work. In the work you show, you start with this:

Let x = money the store paid for the book.
The store sold the book for $92 after marking up the price they paid for the book by 35%.

Then you start guessing -- ending up trying to write your equation using only the "$92" and the "35%". That's primarily because your second sentence doesn't give you a clear idea of what the equation needs to say.

Using your basic ideas and writing things out in more detail, a better start on the problem might have been something like this:

Let x = money the store paid for the book
Then 0.35X is the amount of the markup, because the store marked up the price by 35%

Then, instead of your next sentence, change the wording to say more exactly what you want it to say:

The store sold the book for $92, which is what it paid for the book plus the 35% markup.

By changing the wording of that sentence, it becomes more clear that the equation needs to say that the price of the book is the sum of two things -- what the store paid for the book and the amount of markup.

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