An assistant recieved a 3% raise bringing the salary to 43,989 what was the salary defore the raise? (round to the nearest dollar)

If her original salary is x, then her new salary is 103% of x.
To obtain x from 43989, you therefore divide 43989 by 1.03 to get:
42708 (to nearest dollar).
You can the check it by multiplying by 1.03.

First you find 3% of 43,989 =1319.67 then you minus 1319.67 from 43,989 thats equals to 42669.33