A bookstore sold 18,000 paperbacks one month. This was 10% less than the number of paperbacks the store sold the previous month. The following equation represents this situation, where x represents the number of paperbacks sold the previous month.

x - 0.1x = 18,000

How many paperbacks did the store sell in both months combined?

Question

A bookstore sold 18,000 paperbacks one month. This was 10% less than the number of paperbacks the store sold the previous month. The following equation represents this situation, where x represents the number of paperbacks sold the previous month.

x - 0.1x = 18,000

How many paperbacks did the store sell in both months combined?

anonymous · Answer

0.9 x = 18000, 

9x = 180000 (multiplying both sides by 10)

x = 20000 books.