James, priya, and siobhan work in a grocery store. james makes $8.00 per hour. priya makes 40% more than james, and siobhan makes 5% less than priya. how much does siobhan make per hour?

To find out how much a percentage adds to an amount we put a 1 in front of the percentage and multiply by the starting amount. 
The normal written percentage would be .4 for 40% but we will say 1.4 in order to add 40% to our starting total.

1.4*$8 =$11.20 per hour for Priya. 

Now we need to find out what 5% less than 11.20 is.  To find a % less than our starting total we just multiply by the percentage WITHOUT the 1 in front

$11.20*.05= $.56

Then we take our total (which is %5 of the salary) and subtract it from the starting salary

11.20 - .56= $10.64

Siobhan makes $10.64

 

Hope this helps