I was buying sneakers online and my brain did that thing where it says, “Easy! 10% off and then 10% tax should cancel, right?” But when I checked the final price, it wasn’t the same as the tag price. Now I’m stuck. It feels like walking one block forward and one block back, but somehow I’m not back where I started.
I think I’m mixing up “percent of what.” Is the 10% after the discount taken from the original price, or the new discounted price? Same with tax vs. discount-are they talking about the same base number or different ones?
For example: if something costs $50 and there’s 20% off, then later 20% added back (like a fee or tax), should I expect it to be $50 again or not? How do I reason about this properly without tying myself in knots?
I keep making the mistake of assuming the plus and minus percents “undo” each other. What’s the simple, intuitive way to track which number is the 100% at each step?
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