Toyland is having a sale. All items are 20% off. How much will you save on an item that usually sells for $95?

Question

I don't really know how to explain or find the answer. Please help. And explain the steps in solving. Thanks

 

I am in the 6 grade

Answer 1

Hi Taryn--

 

Remember the question from earlier, where we said that a "per cent" is always "out of 100"?

 

So in this case "20 out of 100" is equivalent to "Some number out of 95."

 

If you set up those two as fractions 20/100 and x/95, you can then cross-multiply them. (Did you learn that? Multiply the numerator of one fraction by the denom of the other, and then the other numerator by the other denom.)

 

It gives you 100x = 1900.

 

Then you divide each side by 100, which gives you x = 19, like Jim said.

 

You save 19 bucks off the $95 price (the answer to the problem itself), and you buy the toy for $76 bucks.

 

So there's the math. And to make sure it makes sense, you say, "Hmmm 20% of 100 bucks would be 20 bucks, so it makes sense that 20% of ALMOST 100 bucks would be ALMOST 20 bucks. 19 bucks is ALMOST 20 bucks."

 

So it makes sense.

 

I wonder what kind of toy it is! :-)

 

M

Answer 2

Hi Yaryn,

               When it says 20% off it means subtract 20% of the original price from the original price.

Original price $95

20% of 95=.2*95 or $19 so we want to subtract $19 form the original price.

$95-$19=$76 so we save $19 if we purchase this item because we can buy it for $76

 

Hope this helps

 

Jim