Calculating Last Year's Total Revenue for a Small Business

A small business had a total revenue of $26,800 this year. If this represents 67% of the revenue from the previous year, what was last year's total revenue?

Understanding the Problem

The problem involves finding the previous year's revenue based on the current year's revenue. We are told that this year's revenue is 33 less than last year, meaning this year's revenue is 67% of last year's revenue. Let's denote last year's total revenue as x.

Setting Up the Equation

Given that this year's revenue is 67% of last year's revenue, we can set up the following equation:

0.67x 26,800

Solving for Last Year's Revenue

To find x, we need to isolate it by dividing both sides of the equation by 0.67:

x frac{26,800}{0.67}

Calculating this gives us:

x approx 39,701.49

Conclusion

Therefore, last year's total revenue was approximately $39,701.49.

Based on the initial formulation, the equation can also be restated as:

If last year's revenue was X, then:

X - 0.33X 26,800

This simplifies to:

0.67X 26,800

Solving for X, we get:

X frac{26,800}{0.67} approx 40,000

Alternative Approach

Alternatively, if we consider the proportion of last year's revenue to this year's revenue, where this year's revenue is 67% of last year's revenue, we can directly calculate:

If last year's revenue is 100%, then this year's revenue is 67% of last year's revenue.

Therefore:

frac{26,800}{0.67} approx 40,000

Final Calculation

Regardless of the method used, the final answer remains the same. Last year's total revenue was approximately $40,000.

Via these calculations, we can effectively determine the revenue for the previous fiscal year, aiding in financial analysis and planning for future years.