decrease to increase but has to round to nearest tenth percent

Question

Saab Corporation raised the base price of its popular 900 series by $1,090 to $34,000. What was the percent increase? (Round to the nearest tenth percent. Omit the "%" sign in your response.)

Answer 1

The first step of solving a story problem is know what is being looked for.  In this problem, the answer being sought is the percent of increase.

The second step of solving a story problem is identifying what each number means.  In this proble, there are three numbers.  There meanings are

900:  destractor (this number has nothing to do with the mathematics of the problem)

$1,090:  Amount of money increased

$34,000:  Total amount of money after increase

Since the problem asks for the percent increase, the original amount of money (cost before increase) is needed.  To find this we will write a formula where the increase ($1,090) is added to the cost before increase (x) to produce the final cost ($34,000).

x + $1,090 = $34,000

Next we solve the equation for x.

x + $1,090 - $1,090 = $34,000 - $1,090

x = 32,910

To find the percent increase, divide the amount of increase ($1,090) by the original price of the product ($32,910).

The answer (rounded to the neareset tenth percent) is 3.3%.