Everyone shops, especially before the holidays! It is common for stores to offer items on sale at a certain percentage off. It is becoming increasingly popular for stores to offer items at an additional percentage off the sales price. This is a copy of an ad from Kohl's where many items in the store were 50% off the original price. Senior Citizens received an additional 15% off the sale price.
Problem 1:
a. Suppose you (a non senior citizen) purchase an item from the Trim-A-Tree shop for $72.00 (original price). What is the sale price?
b. Senior citizens (age 62 and older) were eligible for a senior discount. Assume someone over age 62 purchased the same item on sale (originally $72.00) and received an additional 15% off the sale price. What price do senior citizens pay for the same item from the Trim-A Tree Shop?
c. How much do senior citizens save in total on this item? (absolute change)
d. What was the senior citizen's total percentage savings? (percentage change) Give one decimal place on the percent.
e. As store manager, you are asked to make a list of sales items including their original price, the sale price (50% off) and price after the senior citizen discount (an additional 15% off). You are trying to attract more senior citizens to your store. Open the file Sample of Savings.
In cells B5, B6, B7, and B8 enter appropriate formulas and fill across the row by clicking on the corner of the cell with the formula and dragging sideways. Give one decimal place on the percents. Paste the completed table in your word document.
f. Does the absolute savings depend on the price? Does the overall percentage of savings depend on the price? Explain.
Problem 2. a. Your boss says that the company is struggling and that he needs to cut your salary by 20%. He promises that in 6 months he will raise your new pay by 20%. Does this restore your original salary? Show your calculations.
b. If the salary was decreased by 20%, by what percent would it need to be increased in order to restore your original salary?
Problem 3. A politician promises, "If elected, I will cut your taxes by 20% for each of the first three years of my term, for a total of 60%." Evaluate this promise. Show whether or not the politician is being truthful by calculating the overall percent change in taxes in 3 years.
Problem 4. Solve for Original At the local Video Station, you pay a total of $15.50 for a DVD, after tax had been added. Assuming a local sales tax of 7.5%, what is the retail price of the DVD before tax?
Problem 5. In 1994, Zaire's per capita GNP was $126, which is 70% lower than it was in 1958. What was Zaire's per capita GNP in 1958?
Reflect: Which of the types of the percentage problems was the most challenging for you? Was the challenge recognizing the type of problem? Or was it remembering the formula? Or was it knowing how to do the calculation? What can you do to improve on this type of problem?