Question

A car decreased in value by 38% to $9235 when it was resold. What was the original

price of the car to the nearest dollar?

Answer 1

the original price is really "x", which oddly enough is the 100%.

now it decreased to $9235, and we know that's 38% less than "x", so 100% - 38% = 62%, so $9235 is really the 62% of "x", hmmm what the dickens is "x"?

`\begin{array}{ccll} amount&\%\\ \cline{1-2} x & 100\\ 9235& 62 \end{array} \implies \cfrac{x}{9235}~~=~~\cfrac{100}{62} \\\\\\ \cfrac{ x }{ 9235 } ~~=~~ \cfrac{ 50 }{ 31 }\implies 31x=461750\implies x=\cfrac{461750}{31}\implies x\approx 14895`