KA-0026Percentages and simple discounts
3 points, difficulty 1 of 3Level 5–6about 45sA jacket costs 80 euros. Its price is reduced by 25%. What is the new price?
Hints
Take them one at a time. The first gives nothing away.
1A nudge
A quarter off means three quarters left.
2The strategy
Either find 25% and subtract it, or find 75% of the price directly. The second route is one step and avoids reporting the discount as though it were the price.
3The full solution
25% of 80 is 20, so the new price is 80 - 20 = 60. Equivalently, 75% of 80 is 60.
Solution
The reliable way
25% of 80 is 80 divided by 4, which is 20. Take that off the original price: 80 - 20 = 60 euros. The transferable idea: reducing by 25% is the same as keeping 75%, and computing what remains directly avoids reporting the discount by mistake.
The elegant way
Keeping three quarters of 80 gives 60 in a single step, with no subtraction at all.
Why this is on the test: Percentage questions are frequently answered with the discount rather than the price, and the choices here make that mistake reachable.