Question

John is living in New York, where the state sales tax is 8%. The total cost of his purchase was $50.00. What was the original price of the items before tax?

Answer 1

Let p be the pre-tax cost.  Then 1.08p = $50.  Solving for p, the pre-tax cost, we get:

p = ($50) / (1.08) = $46.30.