Paula received a paycheck of $585. This amount reflects her weekly earnings less 10% of her earnings for deductions. How much was she paid before deductions were taken out?

In order to do this we must set up an equation

We are looking for the original amount she was paid, which we'll represent by the variable X

We know that $585 is X minus 10% of X

This means that $585 is 90% of X (or X times 0.90)

So, our equation is

X (0.90) = 585

In order to solve this, we can divide both sides by 0.90

X=650

So, she was originally paid $650