A store discounts the price of a jacket, p dollars, by 20%... | SAT Equivalent expressions Question, Answer Explained

Math · Advanced MathMedium

A store discounts the price of a jacket, $p$ dollars, by $20\%$ and then adds a $6\%$ sales tax to the discounted price. Which expression gives the final price, in dollars, of the jacket?

$0.74p$

$0.848p$

$0.86p$

$1.26p$

Show answer and explanation

Answer: B

A $20\%$ discount multiplies the price by $1 - 0.20 = 0.80$ , giving $0.80p$ . A $6\%$ tax multiplies that amount by $1.06$ : $1.06(0.80p) = 0.848p$ .

Choice C combines the percents first, $-20\% + 6\% = -14\%$ , but the tax is $6\%$ of the discounted price, not of $p$ .

Why the other choices are wrong

A. This subtracts both percents, but the tax is added to the price, not taken off.
C. This adds -20% and 6%, but the 6% tax applies to the discounted price, not the original price.
D. This adds 20% and 6%, but a discount lowers the price.

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