Sales increased through only 1/2% last month. If the sales from the previous month were $152,850, what were last month's sales?

Multiply through the decimal equivalent of 1/2 % (0.005) to ?nd out the amount of increase; $152,850 × 0.005 = $764.25. This is how much sales increased. To ?nd the actual amount of sales, add the increase to last month's total; $152,850 + $764.25 = $153,614.25.

A general mistake is to use 0.5 (50%) or 0.05 (5%) for 1/2 %. Re- write 1/2 % as 0.5%. To ?nd out the decimal equivalent, move the decimal point two places to the left. This yields 0.005.