Sam sells $3,200 of phones. He earns 5% commission. How much…

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The question

Question: Sam sells $3,200 of phones.

He earns 5% commission.

How much commission does he earn?

1 Find the commission

Percent means out of 100.

So 5% is 5 divided by 100: 0.05.

The point moves 2 places to the left.

The commission is 5% of $3,200.

"Of" means times: 0.05 times $3,200.

That is $160.

To multiply decimals: first 5 times 3200, as whole numbers.

That is 16000.

Then count the decimal places: 2.

So it is 160.00.

Careful!

5% is not divided by 5.

It is 5 out of every 100.

So the commission is $160.

2 Check

Let's check: $160 divided by $3,200 is 0.05.

That is 5%, the commission rate.

So the answer is right!

Let's look back.

First: find the commission.

Last: check.