A software sales woman is paid a base salary and she makes a commission of 10% on everything she sales. How much sales does she need to have an annual salary of $120,000 if she has a base salary of $85,000.?

1 Answer
Dec 6, 2016

This sales person must have $350,000 in sales to have a total annual salary of $120,000.

Explanation:

we can describe the salary this salesperson makes as:

#t = b + (10%*s)# where #t# is the total sales, #b# is the base salary and #s# is the total sales. Using the information we are provided in the problem we can substitute and solve for the "total sales, #s#. We can also substitute #10/100# or #0.1# for 10# as % means per 100.:

#120000 = 85000 + (0.1*s)#

#120000 - 85000 = 85000 - 85000 + (0.1*s)#

#35000 = 0 + (0.1*s)#

#35000 = 0.1*s#

#35000/0.1 = (0.1*s)/0.1#

#350000 = (cancel(0.1)*s)/cancel(0.1)#

#s= 350000#