Ella and margaret were at a carnival. they each got a ticket for the carousel. ella got a jumbo pretzel, and margaret got a snow cone. ella had a certificate for $5 off the cost. margaret paid the rest, which came to $12.75. each carousel ticket costs $4, and a snow cone costs $4.50. how much is a jumbo pretzel?

First the value of the coupon needs to be added back in:
12.75+5=17.75
now the price of the carousel tickets needs to be subtracted
    there are two of them and they each cost $4 it can be expressed as such
17.75-2*4=9.75
    order of operations dictates that multiplications are done before subtractions and the price before the snow cone is subtracted is $9.75
9.75-4.5=5.25
now the snow cone is subtracted and we are left with the price of the jumbo pretzel which is $5.25