Discounts commonly come in two forms: (1) a percent or (2) a dollar amount.

When you receive two or more discounts, you might wonder whether the final price you pay will be affected by the order in which you apply the discounts. Here is the answer to that question.

1. Both Discounts are Percents: If both discounts are percents, then the final price you pay is not affected by the order in which the discounts are given.
2. Both Discounts are Dollar Amounts: If both discounts are dollar amounts, then the final price you pay is not affected by the order in which the discounts are given.
3. One Discount is Percent and One is a Dollar Amount: Example 5 shows that when you mix the types of discounts, the order in which they are applied does make a difference in the final price that you pay.

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When both discounts are percents, the order in which you apply the discounts does not affect the final price you pay (see Math Help above).

A 10% discount followed by a 25% discount:

A 25% discount followed by a 10% discount:

With either order, the final price of the jeans is $27. This is a total discount percent of 32.5%.

Notice that which is the same as a total discount percent of 32.5%.