For dinner, Abelita chooses the Italian salad that costs $3.99 before tax, and Franco chooses the fettuccini alfredo that costs $7.17 before tax. If the sales tax is 5 percent, explain how to find the total cost for their dinner.

Question

jimthompson5910 · Answer

Here's a similar problem:

A person orders salad for $5 and Fettuccini Alfredo for $7. Both of these costs are before tax. If sales tax is 8%, then what is the total bill? Ignore any tips.
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Solution:

Salad = $5 before tax
Fettuccini Alfredo = $7 before tax
total cost before tax = 5+7 = 12 dollars

A sales tax of 8% means 8% of 12 = 0.08*12 = 0.96 dollars is the tax
The total bill comes to 12+0.96 = 12.96
This is without considering any tip

A shortcut is to say
12*1.08 = 12.96
The 1.08 multiplier means "increase by 8%"

Keep in mind that this is an example and the answer 12.96 doesn't apply to your question exactly, but you'll use these same steps to get the answer you're after.