Question

The department store sells logo t-shirts at an original price of $12.50. Every month that a t-shirt doesn’t sell, the store reduces the price by 25%. Brianna calculated the price after two reductions: $12.50 - ($12.50 * 0.25) - ($12.50 * 0.25) = $6.25. What is Brianna’s error?

A. Incorrect subtraction
B. Incorrect multiplication
C. Incorrect addition
D. Incorrect division

Answer 1

Brianna's error was in not applying the second 25% discount to the already reduced price from the first month. The correct price after two monthly 25% reductions would be $7.03125.

Step-by-step explanation:

Brianna's error is in the way she applied the discounts sequentially to the original price of the t-shirt. Rather than subtracting the same $12.50 by 25% twice, she should have calculated the first reduction and then applied the second 25% reduction to the reduced price after the first month. Here is the correct calculation method:

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• Start with the original price: $12.50.
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• Calculate the reduced price after one month: $12.50 - ($12.50 × 0.25) = $12.50 - $3.125 = $9.375.
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• Apply the 25% reduction again, but this time to the new price: $9.375 - ($9.375 × 0.25) = $9.375 - $2.34375 = $7.03125.

Hence, the correct price of the t-shirt after two 25% reductions is $7.03125.