Emily has $30 to spend sales tax is 5%. About how much can the dress cost if she wants to spend all her money?

Answer 1

To find out how much Emily can spend on the dress before tax, we need to account for the sales tax.

Let $x$ be the cost of the dress before tax. The sales tax is 5% of the dress cost, which can be expressed as $0.05x$. Therefore, the total cost including tax is:

$$x+0.05x=1.05x$$

Since Emily has $30 to spend, we set up the equation:

$$1.05x=30$$

Now, solve for $x$:

$$x=\frac{30}{1.05}\approx 28.57$$

So, Emily can spend approximately $28.57 on the dress before tax.