Question 535699
x=original price of the item, what you're solving for.

x(1-.15)=14.50.

it's 1-.15 because you don't want 15% of x, you want 15% OFF of x. so you really want 85% of x.

divide 14.50 by .85, and you'll have x.


(it's not 14.50 X 115% because then you're adding 15% of 14.50 to it, not 15% of the original amount you had. 15% of 14.50 does NOT equal 15% of x because x is larger.)

the pants are 17.06 NOT 16.68.

the way you can double check your answer is to take what you got for x and solve the problem backwards. so let's take $16.68 and show why it's wrong.

16.68*.15= 2.50200 (15% OFF 16.68)
16.68-2.50200=14.18 approx.

14.18 DOES NOT equal 14.50, which was the discounted price of the pants.

17.06*.15=2.559
17.06-2.559=14.50.

17.06 is the correct answer.