Laura paid $17 for a pair of jeans. The ticketed price was 20% off the original price plus the sign on the rack said, "Take an additional 15% off the ticketed price." What was the original price of the jeans?.

Answer: $25

Step-by-step explanation:

Let the original price of the jeans be y. In the question, 20% was first deduct from the original cost. This will be:

= 100% - 20% = 80%

So, 80% of the original cost will be left. This will be:

80% of y = 80/100 * y = 0.8y.

The cost of jeans after the first discount will be 0.8y. The price is then discounted by 15%. Note that

15% is taken off the discounted price which means:

(100% - 15%) = 85% of the discounted price will be left.

Then, multiply the discounted price by 0.85 in order to get the price of the jeans after the second discount. This will be:

= (0.85) (0.8y) which is the cost of jeans after both discounts. From the question, we have been told that Laura paid $17. This will give rose to:

= (0.85) (0.8y) = $17

0.68y = $17

y = 17/0.68

y = $25

The original price of the jeans is $25