Last year the price of a blouse in February was 15 percent less than the original price of $60 and the price of the blouse in March was 6 percent greater than its price in February. What percent greater, or less, than the original price was the price of the blouse in March?
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Is there a shortcut for percent change questions like this one? I always end up doing the long way.
Got it, that's way faster than finding each price separately.
I got the February price as $51, then March as $54.06, but then I wasn't sure what to compare it to. The wording tripped me up a bit.
You compare it to the original $60, not February.
This one is a nice trap. I almost picked 9% less because I only looked at the 15% and 6% and subtracted.
Yeah, percentages don't just add and subtract like that.
Solid medium question. The key is realizing the March price is still below the original but only slightly. Good practice for successive percent changes.
What it tests
Your ability to compute percentage change, percentage of a whole, and to work backwards from a final value.
Common trap
Treating successive percentage changes as additive — a 10% rise then a 10% fall is not back to the start.