Question

The amount of tax on a chair was $3.60. The tax rate was 5%. Find the original price of the chair.

Bianca solved the problem below. Find Bianca’s error.

0.05(3.60) = Original price

The original price is $0.18.

Answer 1

9514 1404 393

Answer:

$72.00

Explanation:

The relationship between price and tax is ...

tax amount = (tax rate) × (price)

Then the price can be found by dividing by the tax rate:

price = (tax amount)/(tax rate)

price = $3.60 / 0.05 = $72.00

The original price of the chair was $72.00.

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Bianca apparently did not pay any attention to the way tax is computed. Nor did she check her work. The original price is not a small fraction of the tax. It is the other way around. Bianca used a wrong relationship between tax and price.