Expert: Sherry Wallin - 10/3/2011

Question
Sorry before I was missing a ) in the first example.  

I am trying to work out the part in brackets but I don't understand, can you please explain what part requires calculation first:

3781.200 * .46
1739.352 x (100.00/(100.00-15000)) = x
x = ?

A colleague of mine did this with the following example (below) (but I am not able to make sense of 100.00/100.00-15000).

3158.000 * .46 =
1452.680 x (100.00/(100.00-15000))
1790.035 x 1.1
= 1879.9385

I would be greatful if someone could explain this to me.

Answer
A~

Are you using x as a variable in both instances? I suspect not. You can't use x as an operator and a variable in the same problem. As far as the order of operations goes you want to simplify 100-15000 = 14900 first. What is the actual problem?

I need to know if the first use of x is a variable or operator in order to help you.

Math Prof