Final answer:
The original price of the jeans, before a 20% discount, is found by dividing the sale price of $25 by 0.80, resulting in an original price of $31.25.
Step-by-step explanation:
The student is asking how to determine the original price of a pair of jeans that were sold with a 20% discount. Given that the sale price is $25, we need to reverse the discount to find the original price before the discount was applied.
Let's denote the original price as O. A 20% discount on the original price means the customer pays 80% of the original price. To find the original price, we calculate:
O = Sale Price / (1 - Discount Rate)
O = $25 / (1 - 0.20)
O = $25 / 0.80
O = $31.25
Therefore, the original price of the jeans before the discount was $31.25.