Vera went to the local salon to get a haircut. The cost was $24. Vera tipped the hair stylist 18%. What was the total cost of haircut including the tip? Round to the nearest cent.

Work Shown:

18% = 18/100 = 0.18

18% of 24 = 0.18*24 = 4.32

The tip is $4.32

Adding this tip amount onto the original bill leads to 4.32+24 = 28.32

As a slight shortcut, we can use the multiplier 1.18 to get

1.18*24 = 28.32

This works because

1.18*24 = (1+0.18)*24 = 1*24 + 0.18*24 = 24 + 0.18*24

Notice the portion "24 + 0.18*24" can be found buried in the 1.18*24 expression. I applied the distributive property.

The multiplier 1.18 represents an increase of 18%

We can think of it as

100% + 18% = 1+0.18 = 1.18