A bicycle has a listed price of $707.95 before tax. If the sales tax rate is 9.5%, find the total cost of the bicycle with sales tax included. Round your answer to the nearest cent, as necessary.

Answer 1

original price + tax = original price times 1.095. tax of 9.5% = 0.095. shift the decimal point 2 to the left.

707.95 + .095(707.95) = 707.95(1.095) = 775.20525

rounded to nearest cent = $775.21 = after tax price

use a calculator, or some time consuming long multiplication

you might do an estimate, expecting an answer slightly less than 10% which would be 707.95+70.795 =778.90

775.21 is slightly less than 778.90. It looks about right.

another check on the answer is use the rule of nines, just in case you punched in the wrong digits on the calculator.

707.95 divided by 9 leaves remainder of 1. 1.095 divided by 9 leaves remainder of 6. 1 times 6 = 6. 24/9 leaves remainder of 6. 775.20525 divided by 9 leaves remainder of 6

Rather than do the division, just add the digits,

7+0+7++9+5= 28. 2+8= 10. 1+0= 1

1+0+9+5 = 15. 1+5= 6

1 times 6 =6

7+7+5+2+0+5+2+5 =33 3+3=6

6 from the problem = 6 in the answer. 90% chance it's the correct answer