Question

The cost of living last year went up 7%. Fortunately Alice got a 7% raise in her salary last year. This year she is earning 50,490. How much did she make last year?

Answer 1

$47,186.92

1) Gathering the data

Cost of living: 7% ( 1.07)

This year Salary: 50,490

2) Let's find out how much Alice was earning by writing out the following equation:

x(1.07) =50,490 Where x means the Last year's Salary of Alice

$\begin{gathered} \frac{1.07x}{1.07}=\frac{50490}{1.07} \\ x\approx47,186.92 \end{gathered}$

Note that, since the raise Alice had was 7% we can write the factor is 1.07 (1+0.07).

3) Hence, Alice's wage was approximately $47,186.92 last year.