During a store's closing sale, everything is 65% off. Vikram goes into the store to buy a shirt and a pair of pants, and spends 15.60 before tax. How much would he have spent without the sale?

without the sales, he would have spent $44.57

Step-by-step explanation:

Let the amount he would have spent without the sales be x. Now, if there is a 65% discount, what this means is that he is exactly paying for 100 - 65% = 35%

Now, it is this 35% of X that is equal to the amount he paid

Thus, mathematically, we have the following;

35/100 * x = 15.60

35x = 15.6 * 100

35x = 1560

x = 1560/35

x = $44.57

This means that without the sales discount, he would have paid $44.57

because linear equations are a lot simpler than quadratics equations, and linear equations formula is a lot easier to memorize. that's why i think they're harder.