A shop earned a profit of $555 when a computer was sold at a discount of 10%. If the computer was sold at a discount of 40%, the shop would make a loss of $255. What was the original selling price of the computer?

Question

A shop earned a profit of $555 when a computer was sold at a discount of 10%. If the computer was sold at a discount of 40%, the shop would make a loss of $255. What was the original selling price of the computer?

Answer 1

Let's call the original selling price of the computer "x."

If the computer was sold at a discount of 10%, the selling price would be 0.9x (since the price is 90% of the original). The shop earned a profit of $555, so we can create the equation:

0.9x + 555 = x

Simplifying, we can subtract 0.9x from both sides:

555 = 0.1x

Dividing both sides by 0.1, we get:

x = $5,550

So the original selling price of the computer was $5,550.

Now, let's check to see if the second part of the problem makes sense.

If the computer was sold at a discount of 40%, the selling price would be 0.6x (since the price is 60% of the original). The shop would make a loss of $255, so we can create the equation:

0.6x - 255 = x

Simplifying, we can subtract 0.6x from both sides:

-255 = 0.4x

Dividing both sides by 0.4, we get:

x = -$637.50

Uh oh! A negative price doesn't make sense. This means there is no solution to the second part of the problem, and we'll need to adjust the numbers given to make sense of it.

Answer 2

Let's assume the original selling price of the computer is X dollars.

When the computer was sold at a discount of 10%, the shop earned a profit of $555. This means the selling price after the discount is (X * 0.9) dollars.

We can set up the equation: (X * 0.9) - X = $555

Simplifying the equation: 0.9X - X = $555

Combining like terms: -0.1X = $555

Dividing by -0.1: X = $555 / -0.1

X = $-5550

Therefore, the original selling price of the computer was -$5550, which doesn't make sense. Please double-check the given information to ensure there are no errors.