Question

When the Henderson's went to dinner, their total bill, including tax, was $43.74. If the sales tax rate is 8%, what was the original price of the dinner ?

Answer 1

Start with your equation for the dinner bill.

Meal Price + tax * (Meal Price) = Total Bill.

This simplifies to:

Meal Price (1 + tax) = Total Bill; and we are going to solve for Meal Price. So...

Meal Price = (Total Bill) / (1 + tax).
Meal Price = $43.74 / (1.08)

Does that help?