When Melissa went to purchase a purse from a street vendor, she negotiated a purchase price that was 5% less than the $170.00 marked price, plus 8% sales tax on the purchase price. If she has $475.00 in her checking account, how much did she pay for the purse?

.95 * 170 = 161.50

161.50 * 1.08 = 174.42

Ok, my question is where are you getting the .95?

The 0.95 in Damon's answer is 1-0.05 = 0.95. It's a 5% discount (0.05 as a fraction) which is 100%-5%= 95% and as a fraction that is 0.95.

Thank you very much for your assistance. I try these problems first and when I can't get the correct answer then I seek help.

To find out how much Melissa paid for the purse, we can break down the problem step by step.

Step 1: Calculate the purchase price after negotiating a 5% discount.
The marked price of the purse is $170.00. Melissa negotiated a purchase price that was 5% less, so we need to subtract 5% of $170.00 from $170.00.
5% of $170.00 = 0.05 * $170.00 = $8.50
Purchase price after negotiation = $170.00 - $8.50 = $161.50

Step 2: Calculate the sales tax on the purchase price.
Melissa has to pay an additional 8% sales tax on the purchase price of $161.50.
8% of $161.50 = 0.08 * $161.50 = $12.92

Step 3: Calculate the total amount Melissa paid.
Total amount paid = Purchase price + Sales tax = $161.50 + $12.92 = $174.42

Therefore, Melissa paid $174.42 for the purse.

Now, to answer the question of how much money Melissa has left in her checking account, we subtract the total amount she paid for the purse from the balance in her checking account.
Balance in Melissa's checking account - Amount paid for the purse = $475.00 - $174.42 = $300.58

Melissa has $300.58 left in her checking account.