price of item before reduction

Question

After a 40% reduction, you purchase a new bike for $156. What was the price of the bike before the reduction?A) First write an equation you can use to answer this question. Use  as your variable and express any percents in decimal form in the equation.The equation is 

 B) Solve your equation in part [A] to find the original price of the bike.Answer: The original price of the bike was  dollars.

Answer 1

Any time you are doing a problem with percentage, the basic formula is % x original amount = new amount.

So 50% of 30 = 15. The math is .50 x 30 = 15.

Now plug the information you have into that formula. You know the percentage is 40%, or .40. You know the new amount is $156. What you don't know is the original amount.

The equation is: .40 x X = 156

Since you want to solve for X, you divide both sides by .4.

X = 156/.4

X = 390

The original price of the bike was 390 dollars.