Question

Writing You decide to buy two rings from an outdoor vendor. One ring costs $$ 10.89 .\( The other ring costs $$ 12.48 . The sales tax is \)8 \% .\( The vendor uses a calculator to obtain the price including sales tax for both rings and gets $$ 24.37 .\) What mistake did the vendor make?

Short answer

The mistake the vendor made was undercharging the customer. The correct total price of the rings should be $25.24, not $24.37. So, the vendor undercharged the customer by $0.87.

Step-by-step solution

Calculating total price of the rings

Add the prices of both the rings: \(10.89 + 12.48 = 23.37\) dollars. This is the total cost of the rings before tax.

Calculating the correct sales tax

Multiply the total price by the sales tax rate to calculate the tax: \(23.37 * 0.08 = 1.87\) dollars. This is the correct sales tax that should be added to the total ring cost.

Calculating the correct total price after tax

Add the sales tax to the total cost of the rings before tax: \(23.37 + 1.87 = 25.24\) dollars This is the correct total price of the rings including the sales tax.

Identifying the mistake

The vendor gave the total amount as $24.37 which is less than the correctly calculated total amount of \$25.24, so the mistake the vendor made was undercharging the customer.

Correcting Vendor's calculation mistake

The correct total price of the rings including the sales tax should be $25.24, not $24.37. The vendor undercharged the customer by $0.87.