Final answer:
To determine Miguel's total cost including the 8% sales tax, add the pre-tax total of $20.98 to the sales tax amount, which is calculated as $20.98 multiplied by 0.08, totaling $22.66.
Step-by-step explanation:
To calculate Miguel’s total cost including an 8% sales tax on his purchases, follow these steps:
First, find the total cost before tax by adding the prices of the items. If Miguel bought items totaling $20.98, this is the pre-tax total.
Next, convert the tax percentage to a decimal form. For an 8% sales tax, this is done by dividing by 100, which gives us 0.08.
Then, calculate the amount of sales tax by multiplying the pre-tax total by the decimal tax rate: $20.98 × 0.08 = $1.6784.
Round the sales tax to the nearest cent, which gives us $1.68.
Finally, add the sales tax to the pre-tax total to find the total cost: $20.98 + $1.68 = $22.66.
The total cost for Miguel after adding the 8% sales tax is $22.66.