Percentages and Discounts
In the town of Eureka Shores, where the sea met the sandy shore, Maya and Zoey, along with their friendly robot Orion, were on their way to a new shop. This wasn't just any shop—it was said to have cool magic stuff! The sun painted the sky with warm colors as they strolled through the lively streets.
As they entered the shop, a little bell chimed, making them excited. The outside of the shop had sparkly symbols, and the air felt like it was filled with magic. Maya, wearing a cloak covered in special signs, led the way with Zoey, who was always up for an adventure, right behind her. Orion, their clanky but lovable robot friend, walked with them, adding its own metallic rhythm to the lively sounds of the town. Together, they stepped into the shop, ready for a world of magic and surprises!
Maya desperately wanted to add to her magic collection, so they immediately headed to the toy section. It wasn’t long before a bright green sign caught her eye.
"60% off on Magic Toys!" Intrigued, she turned to her friends and said, "60% of the original price is a good deal.”
Orion butted in, “Actually Maya, it’s an even better deal than you think! Since it’s 60% off the product, it means that we only pay 40% of the actual price.”
Maya tilted her head, “What do you mean? Why 40%?”
Orion continued, “Well, if we take 100 coins and subtract 60% of them, which is 60 coins, we're left with only 40 coins to pay. So when it says 60% off something, you subtract that 60% from 100%. You can remember that because it says 60% off, or 60% off 100%. Then you get the answer, that it is 40% of the original price! That’s a special treat for our pockets!"
Orion also told them about a special other way to calculate the price of an item after a discount. Rather than subtracting the discount percentage from 100% and then solving, you could first just take the discount percentage of the original price. Then, you would subtract that price from the original. For example, if a box cost $20 and you wanted to find the new price after a 20% discount, you would do this. First take 20% of $20, which is $4. You would then subtract this from the original price of $20. Your new price would be $16 after the discount!
Zoey chimed in, “So for this special slime, it says 25% off. So we would subtract 25% from 100%, and get 75%. It would be 75% of our original price!”
Orion nodded, “And let’s just take a second to remember what 75% really means. 75% means 75 out of 100. So if the original price of the slime was 100 coins, 75% of that would be 75 coins.”
“Got it. So, let’s work out 30% off this vase. 100% minus 30% would be 70%, so this would be 70% of the original price. Since this vase is 100 coins, and 70% is 70/100, the new price would be 70 coins!”
Orion whirred excitedly, “Correct, Zoey! Do you have enough money to buy it?”
Zoey nodded eagerly, “Yep - thanks to the discount and our awesome math skills, I have just enough money. This floral vase will look awesome in my room.”