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Of the total amount that Jill spent on a shopping trip, excluding taxes, she spent 50 percent on clothing, 20 percent on food, and 30 percent on other items. If Jill paid a 4 percent tax on the clothing, no tax on the food, and an 8 percent tax on all other items, then the total tax that she paid was what percent of the total amount that she spent, excluding taxes?

Explanation	Calculations	Help
$We first create a variable for the total pre-tax spending, letting T represent this amount.$	$T = total pre-tax spending$	Theory & Tactics Method Card TRANS1-A Click to view full details
$We translate the spending percentages from the question into decimal expressions: "50 percent", "20 percent", and "30 percent" of T .$	$Clothing = \frac{50}{100} T = 0.5 T Food = \frac{20}{100} T = 0.2 T Other = \frac{30}{100} T = 0.3 T$	Theory & Tactics Method Card TRANS2-A Click to view full details
$We translate the tax rates from the question into decimal multipliers: "4 percent tax on the clothing", "no tax on the food", and "8 percent tax on all other items" .$	$Tax on clothing = 0.04 \times 0.5 T = 0.02 T Tax on food = 0 \times 0.2 T = 0 Tax on other = 0.08 \times 0.3 T = 0.024 T$	Theory & Tactics Method Card TRANS2-A Click to view full details
$We add the taxes and convert to a percentage of T .$	$Total tax = 0.02 T + 0.024 T = 0.044 T \frac{Total tax}{T} \times 100% = 0.044 \times 100% = 4.4%$

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4.4%

Of the total amount that Jill spent on a shopping trip, excluding taxes, she spent 50 percent on clothing, 20 percent on food, and 30 percent on other items. If Jill paid a 4 percent tax on the clothing, no tax on the food, and an 8 percent tax on all other items, then the total tax that she paid was what percent of the total amount that she spent, excluding taxes?

Explanation	Calculations	Help
$We first create a variable for the total pre-tax spending, letting T represent this amount.$	$T = total pre-tax spending$	Theory & Tactics Method Card TRANS1-A Click to view full details
$We translate the spending percentages from the question into decimal expressions: "50 percent", "20 percent", and "30 percent" of T .$	$Clothing = \frac{50}{100} T = 0.5 T Food = \frac{20}{100} T = 0.2 T Other = \frac{30}{100} T = 0.3 T$	Theory & Tactics Method Card TRANS2-A Click to view full details
$We translate the tax rates from the question into decimal multipliers: "4 percent tax on the clothing", "no tax on the food", and "8 percent tax on all other items" .$	$Tax on clothing = 0.04 \times 0.5 T = 0.02 T Tax on food = 0 \times 0.2 T = 0 Tax on other = 0.08 \times 0.3 T = 0.024 T$	Theory & Tactics Method Card TRANS2-A Click to view full details
$We add the taxes and convert to a percentage of T .$	$Total tax = 0.02 T + 0.024 T = 0.044 T \frac{Total tax}{T} \times 100% = 0.044 \times 100% = 4.4%$

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4.4%