Final answer:
To find last year's salary after a 4% raise, we can set up an equation and solve for the original salary. The original salary comes out to be $42,500.
Step-by-step explanation:
To find last year's salary, we need to reverse the 4% raise to get the original salary before the raise.
Let's assume the original salary is x. According to the information given, the raise is 4% of x, which means it is 0.04x.
The current salary after the raise is given as $44,200, so we can set up the equation: x + 0.04x = $44,200.
Simplifying this equation, we get 1.04x = $44,200.
Now, we can solve for x by dividing both sides of the equation by 1.04: x = $42,500. Therefore, last year's salary was $42,500.