Question

A skateboard in a

store in Charlottetown, PEI, costs
$39.99. It is on sale for 30% off.
The taxes are 16%. What is the sale
price of the skateboard including taxes?
A student says, “$39.99 – 30% discount
+ 16% taxes is the same as calculating
$39.99 – 14%.”
Is the student’s reasoning correct?

Answer 1

No, the reasoning is not correct.

Explanation:

39.99 x .14 = 5.5986 Does it make sense that the sales price plus the tax would be $5.60? Doesn't that seem really low?

39.99 x .3 = 11.997 is the amount that we are taking off of the original price.

39.99 - 12 (Rounded to the nearest cent) is 27.99.

Now we pay the tax on the discounted amount of the item.

27.99 x .16 = 4.4784 or 4.48 rounded to the nearest cent.

The out the door cost of the item

is 27.99 + 4.48 = 32.48