Proportional Relationships

Question

Dan paid $34.30 for a sweater. The price included a 40% markup. Find the cost of the sweater before the markup was added. Show your work, please.

Answer 1

So, the the price Dan paid is the original price plus a 40% mark-up. This means, PP=OP+OP*40%, or PP=OP+0.4*OP. Distribute out the OP, and you get, PP=OP(1+0.4). Since we know the purchase price (PP) and we want to know the original price (OP), then algebra gives us, OP=PP/1.4. Substitute the known value and calculate, OP=34.3/1.4=24.50.