1. Applications of Percents
8-6
Applications of Percents
Warm Up
Problem of the Day
Lesson Presentation
Pre-Algebra

2. Vocabulary
commission
commission rate
sales tax
withholding tax

3. Real estate agents often work for commission
Real estate agents often work for commission. A commission is a fee paid to a person who makes a sale. It is usually a percent of the selling price. This percent is called the commission rate.
Often agents are paid a commission plus a regular salary. The total pay is a percent of the sales they make plus a salary.
commission rate  sales = commission

4. Example 1
A real-estate agent is paid a monthly salary of $900 plus commission. Last month he sold one condominium for $65,000, earning a 4% commission on the sale. How much was his commission? What was his total pay last month?
First find his commission.
4%  $65,000 = c commission rate  sales = commission

5. Additional Example 1 Continued
0.04  65,000 = c Change the percent to a decimal.
2600 = c Solve for c.
He earned a commission of $2600 on the sale.
Now find his total pay for last month.
$ $900 = $ commission + salary = total pay
His total pay for last month was $3500.

6. Sales tax is the tax on the sale of an item or service
Sales tax is the tax on the sale of an item or service. It is a percent of the purchase price and is collected by the seller.

7. Example 2 – Sales Tax
If the sales tax rate is 6.75%, how much tax would Adrian pay if he bought two CDs at $16.99 each and one DVD for $36.29?
CD: 2 at $ $33.98
DVD: 1 at $ $36.29
$70.27 Total Price
 = Convert tax rate to a decimal and multiply by the total price.
Adrian would pay $4.74 in sales tax.

8. A tax deducted from a person’s earnings as an advance payment of income tax is called withholding tax.

9. Example 3 – Tax withheld
Anna earns $1500 monthly. Of that, $ is withheld for Social Security and Medicare. What percent of Anna’s earnings are withheld for Social Security and Medicare?
Think: What percent of $1500 is $114.75?
Solve by proportion:
114.75
1500 n
100 =
n  1500 = 100  Find the cross products.

10. Additional Example 3 Continued
1500n = 11,475 Divide both sides by 1500.
11,475
1500 n =
n = 7.65
7.65% of Anna’s earnings is withheld for Social Security and Medicare.

11. Example 4
A furniture sales associate earned $960 in commission in May. If his commission is 12% of sales, how much were his sales in May?
Think: $960 is 12% of what number?
Solve by equation:
960 = 0.12  s Let s = total sales.
960
0.12
= s Divide each side by 0.12.
The associate’s sales in May were $8000.