Question

How do you estimate the tax on a \[\$ 198\] stereo when the sales tax is \[5.25\% \]?

Answer 1

Hint: We will first convert the sales tax from percentage to decimal. Then we will use the formula, Sales tax \[ = \] Cost of the item \[ \times \] Sales tax rate and put the values of cost of the item and sales tax rate. Then we will simplify it and round off the value to the nearest cent to find the final result.

Complete step-by-step answer:
The sales tax is a tax paid to a governing body for the sales of certain goods and services.
As we know that sales tax is equal to multiplication of cost of the item and the sales tax rate i.e., Sales tax \[ = \] Cost of the item \[ \times \] Sales tax rate.
Here, the given cost of the item is \[\$ 198\] and sales tax rate is given as \[5.25\% \].
Now, we will convert \[5.25\% \] to a decimal.
\[ \Rightarrow 5.25\% = \dfrac{{5.25}}{{100}}\]
On simplifying, we get
\[ \Rightarrow 5.25\% = 0.0525\]
Putting these values, we get
\[ \Rightarrow \] Sales tax \[ = \] Cost of the item \[ \times \] Sales tax rate
\[ \Rightarrow {\text{Sales tax}} = \$ 198 \times 0.0525\]
On calculating, we get
\[ \Rightarrow {\text{Sales tax}} = \$ 10.395\]
On rounding off the value to the nearest cent, we get
\[ \Rightarrow {\text{Sales tax}} = \$ 10.40\]
Therefore, the tax on a \[\$ 198\] stereo when the sales tax is \[5.25\% \] is \[\$ 10.40\].

Note: In this question, the sales tax is given in percentage i.e., \[5.25\% \]. A percentage is a number or ratio expressed as a fraction of \[100\] and is often used to express a proportionate part of a total. It is often denoted using the percent sign, \['\% '\]. A percentage is a dimensionless number and has no unit of measurement.