Question

A new television set was recently purchased for the common room in a residence hall for $520.00 including tax. If the tax rate is 4%, find the price of the television set before taxes.

Answer 1

Let's use the variable x to represent the price of the television set before taxes.

If the tax rate is 4%, then the original price is multiplied by 1.04, so it is equal 1.04x.

The final price is $520, so we have:

`\begin{gathered} 1.04x=520 \\ x=(520)/(1.04) \\ x=500 \end{gathered}`

So the price before taxes is $500.00.