For each one-year period after a car was purchased, its value at the end of the year was 15% less than its value at the beginning of the year. If the value of the car 2 years after it was bought is $17,918, what was the value of the car when it was purchased?

Answer 1

Let's call the value of the car when it was purchased "x".

After one year, the value of the car is 15% less than x, or 0.85x.
After two years, the value of the car is 15% less than 0.85x, or 0.7225x.

We know that 0.7225x = $17,918. To solve for x, we can divide both sides by 0.7225:

x = $24,750

Therefore, the value of the car when it was purchased was $24,750.