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Question

A store increased the original price of a shirt by a certain percent and then lowered the new price by the same amount. Given that the resulting price was 84% of the original price, by what percent was the price increased and decreased?

Accepted Answer

Suppose the fraction of discount is x. That means (1-x)(1+x)=0.84; so, 1-x^2=0.84, and (x^2)=0.16, procuring x=0.4. Therefore, the price was increased and decreased by 40%, or 40.