To find the original price of the candy basket before the 15% off sale, we can use the formula for calculating the sale price:
\[ \text{Sale Price} = \text{Original Price} - (\text{Original Price} \times \text{Discount Rate}) \]
Given that the discount rate is 15% (or 0.15), we can express the sale price in terms of the original price:
\[ \text{Sale Price} = \text{Original Price} \times (1 - 0.15) = \text{Original Price} \times 0.85 \]
We know that the sale price is $37.40. Therefore, we can set up the equation:
\[ 37.40 = \text{Original Price} \times 0.85 \]
To find the original price, we can rearrange the equation:
\[ \text{Original Price} = \frac{37.40}{0.85} \]
Now, we calculate:
\[ \text{Original Price} = \frac{37.40}{0.85} \approx 44.00 \]
Thus, the original price of the candy basket was $44.00.