Identify the base in the following application: The sales tax rate is 8%. If you pay a tax of $2.50 on an item, what is the selling price. I don't know what the base is or how to solve the problem.

Check your text to find how base is defined in this situation.

To find the marked price before the tax, solve for x.

0.08x = 2.5
x = 2.5/0.08
x = 31.25

In the problem is the base "unknown"?

To identify the base in this application, let's understand the concept of sales tax. Sales tax is typically calculated as a percentage of the selling price of an item. In this case, the sales tax rate is given as 8%.

To find the base in this problem, we need to determine what the 8% is being applied to. In this case, the base would be the selling price of the item.

Now, let's determine the selling price of the item using the given information.

We know that the tax amount is $2.50. We can set up the equation:

tax amount = sales tax rate * selling price

Substituting the given values, we have:

$2.50 = 0.08 * selling price

To solve for the selling price, divide both sides of the equation by 0.08:

$2.50 / 0.08 = selling price

The selling price is approximately $31.25.

So, the base in this application is $31.25, which is the selling price of the item.