tax and price math problem?

Giovanna Sherlin: simply move the decimal point two places to the left of the 8, which will be .08.multiply .08 and $40,230.it should equal $3,218.40.subtract:$40,230 - $3,218.40 = $37,011.60.the car's price without tax is $37,011.60....Show more

Hilma Pestano: Sorry, but Leslie's answer is wrong. This is pretty important to see, and I would think is actually a common mistake.She is right that 8%=0.08. However you cannot multiply your after tax amount to get the tax paid on the car. This can easily be checked:After Tax Amount given = 40,230Before Tax Amount Calculated by Leslie = 37,011.60Tax Calculated by Leslie = 3,218.40To check answer provided by Leslie:Before Tax amount * tax rate given = 37,011.60 * 0.08 = 2,960.93Total Amount = 37011.60+2,960.93 = 39,972.53This does not equal your after tax amount given of the car given in your problem. Therefore we can see that Leslie's method will not work. Now for the correc! t way:After Tax Amount Given / (1+ tax rate given) = Before tax amount40,230 / (1+0.08) = Before tax amount of car40,230/1.08 = 37,250Then to get the tax paid:Before tax amount * tax rate given = 37,250 * 0.08 = 2,980Check:Before tax amount + tax = 37,250 + 2,980 = 40,230Therefore you can see that you have the right answer!...Show more