Percentages in the Real World Examples Page 3

All sweaters are 30% off of the original price. You, being the clever shopper you are, also have a coupon for 15% off any item, including sale items. How much does a $75 sweater cost?

Now you might be tempted to combine these two percentages and say that the sweater is 45% off, but that won’t work. You can’t combine discounts.

First take 30% off to find the sale price, then take 15% off the sale price to find the amount you’ll pay, including your coupon.

30% of $75

cross-multiply and divide   

This is the amount off, so we need subtract this amount from the original price.

Now we need to take 15% off of this price.

15% of $52.50   

Cross-multiply and divide.

Now, round to the nearest cent.     

Finally, subtract this amount from the sales price.

So, that sweater that was originally $75 is now only $44.62!

How NOT to solve it:

If you had combined the discounts and taken 45% off the original price, the sweater would have cost:

What a steal. Bummer it doesn't work that way.