document.write( "Question 587964: Please help!!
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document.write( "Due to inflation the price of an item was increased twice, after the second increase the price became 6 times the original. By what percent was the second increase if the first increase was 50%? \n" );
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Algebra.Com's Answer #374336 by KMST(5328)![]() ![]() You can put this solution on YOUR website! LOT OF EXPLANATIONS (optional reading): \n" ); document.write( "When you increase the price by 50%, you add to the previous price 50% of the previous price. That is 0.50 or \n" ); document.write( "So, if you started with a price P, after a 50% increase, the new price is \n" ); document.write( " \n" ); document.write( "The idea, to calculate the new price after a certain percent increase or decrease is: \n" ); document.write( "1) express that percent as a decimal (0.5 for 50%, 0.27 for 27%, 0.045 for 4.5%, and so on), using negative numbers for price decreases. \n" ); document.write( "2) add 1 to that, to get your increase factor \n" ); document.write( "3) multiply the old price times that factor \n" ); document.write( "Example, a $60 dress, on sale at 12% off, costs \n" ); document.write( "$ \n" ); document.write( " \n" ); document.write( "THE SOLUTION: \n" ); document.write( "From an original price, P, an increase of 50% (0.5 as a decimal) brings the price up to \n" ); document.write( " \n" ); document.write( "A new increase of x (expressed as a decimal) brings the price up to \n" ); document.write( " \n" ); document.write( "If that equals 6 times the original price, \n" ); document.write( " \n" ); document.write( "We divide both sides by P, eliminating P, and then solve for x \n" ); document.write( " \n" ); document.write( "A decimal of 3.00 mean an increase of 300%. \n" ); document.write( " \n" ); document.write( "COMMENTS (more optional reading): \n" ); document.write( "That is quite an increase. \n" ); document.write( "If the original price was $200, the first 50% increase would have brought the price to $300. \n" ); document.write( "Then the second (300%) increase would have quadrupled the previous $300 price to $1200, 6 times the original price. \n" ); document.write( "That's hyperinflation. Ask anyone from Buenos Aires about it. \n" ); document.write( "(There are other places that have had bad hyperinflation, but none that I visited). \n" ); document.write( " |