Total sales price

From Ray Kump, CPA

CompuServe ID: [71773,1274]

I wrote these equations in self defense when my washing machine broke and I was forced to haggle with sales people. The salesperson tried to confuse me, but it turned out I confused him with these equations. The first is based on actual discount, the second is based on percent discount. They share common variables and calculate the total cost of a purchase including freight and any applicable discounts.

Enter the list price, the sales tax, any freight or delivery charges and the discount if any. It will then show the total cost and the sales tax charged. With this equation you can keep the total cost in focus among different items with different costs and different discounts. What really matters is the final price, not the list price and the discount from list.

{Actual discount|

List*0+Disc*0+Freight*0+

Misc*0+L(Taxable,((List-

Disc+Freight+Misc)))+

G(STX_%)*0+L(STax,STX_%

Taxable/100)+STax*0=

Actual_Cost

}

{Percent discount|

List*0+%_Disc*0+Freight

0+Misc*0+L(Taxable,((List-

(List*%_Disc/100)+

Freight+Misc)))+G(STX_%)*0+

L(STax,STX_%*Taxable/100)+

STax*0=Actual_Cost

}