Agroup of friends went to lunch. the bill, before sales tax and tip, was $37.50. a sales tax of 8% was added. the group then tipped 18% on the amount after the sales tax was added. what was the amount, in dollars, of the sales tax?

First, there was $37.50.
Then, there was a tax of 8%.
Then, there was a tip of 18%.
Since the tip is after the tax, it's not going to affect it, and we can essentially ignore it.

The real question here is just what is 8% of $37.50?

To find the percent of something, first you need to put the percent as a decimal.

8% in decimal form is 0.08 (If you think about it literally, they're both 8 hundredths)

Finally, just multiply the percent in decimal form by the number.

37.50 dollars × 0.08 = 3 dollars.