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.

Answer 1

The cost of the sweater before the markup is $24.50.

Explanation:

The percent markup of an item is calculated by subtracting the original cost of the item from the sale price and then dividing by the original cost. In this case, we are trying to find the original cost, so we know that the percent markup is 40%, or 0.4. Since the sale price of the item would be 100% of the original cost multiplied by an additional 40% markup, we can take the sale price of the item divided by 140%, or 1.4: 34.30/1.4 = 24.50.