Question

some friends went out for a meal. the restaurant added 10% service charge to the cost of the meal. the total bill was £148.50 including the service charge. what was the cost of the meal? give your answer in pounds

Answer 1

The cost of the meal was £135.

Explanation:

To find the cost of the meal before the service charge, we can use the formula:

meal cost = total bill / (1 + service charge percentage)

The service charge percentage is given as 10%, which can be converted to a decimal by dividing by 100.

Substituting the given values:

meal cost = £148.50 / (1 + 0.10)

Simplifying the equation, we find:

meal cost = £135

Answer 2

£135

Explanation:

First, we can represent the service charge of 10% as:

`10\% \cdot x`

where
`x` was the cost of the meal.

And we know that the cost after the service charge was £148.50.

So, we can set up the following equation to solve for the cost of the meal:

`\rm total \ bill = (meal \ cost) + (service \ charge)`

`\£148.50=x + 10\%\cdot x`

↓ representing 1 as 100%

`\£148.50=100\%\cdot x + 10\%\cdot x`

↓ combining like terms

`\£148.50=110\%\cdot x`

↓ dividing both sides by 110% or 1.1

`\boxed{\£135 = x}`

So, the cost of the meal was £135.