Final answer:
To calculate the total cost including tax, multiply the cost of the salad by the sales tax rate and then add the tax amount to the cost. Estimation can be used to check the reasonableness of the answer.
Step-by-step explanation:
To calculate the total cost including tax, you need to add the cost of the salad to the tax amount. First, find the tax amount by multiplying the cost of the salad ($6.95) by the sales tax rate (8%). To do this, convert the tax rate to a decimal (8% = 0.08) and multiply it by the cost of the salad: 0.08 * $6.95 = $0.556. Round this amount to $0.56. Then, add the tax amount to the cost of the salad to find the total cost: $6.95 + $0.56 = $7.51.
To check if the answer is reasonable, you can use estimation. Since the sales tax rate is 8%, you can estimate that the tax amount will be slightly less than 10% of the cost of the salad. If you round the cost of the salad to $7, 10% of $7 is $0.70. Since the tax amount ($0.56) is less than $0.70, the answer of $7.51 seems reasonable.
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