Mary buys a pair of jeans for $24.99, a skirt for $32.99, and a pair of shoes for $49.99. She has a coupon for 15% off the most expensive item. If the tax is 7.5%, what is the total cost?

To determine the total cost of Mary’s purchases, including the discount and tax, we start by identifying the items and calculating the total cost before applying the discount.

Mary buys:

• Jeans: $24.99

• Skirt: $32.99
• Shoes: $49.99

First, we find the subtotal of these items:

Subtotal = $24.99 + $32.99 + $49.99 = $107.97

Next, we apply the 15% discount to the most expensive item, which in this case is the pair of shoes priced at $49.99.

To calculate the discount: Discount = 15% of $49.99 = 0.15 × $49.99 = $7.4985 (approximately $7.50 when rounded)

Now, we deduct this discount from the subtotal to get the adjusted total:

Adjusted total = Subtotal - Discount Adjusted total = $107.97 - $7.50 = $100.47

Once we have the adjusted total, we now need to include the sales tax of 7.5%.

Tax amount = 7.5% of adjusted total = 0.075 × $100.47 = $