A promotional sale at department store offers 25% off the sale price. The sale price is 25% off the regular price. Is this same as a sale that offers 50% of regular price? (Try both with a coat whose original cost was $100

This is not the same. The 50% discount would be better.

Step-by-step explanation:

The reason for this is that when you take 25% off the already marked down price, you are not getting 25% off the whole $100. As a result, you wind up getting less off. See the example below.

$100 (cost) - $100*25% (discount) = Sale Price

$100 - $25 = Sale Price

$75 = Sale Price

$75 (Sale Price) - $75*25% (Promo) = Overall price

$75 - $18.75 = Overall price

$56.25 = Overall price

This is the cost of the two discounts, whereas if you take all 50% at once, you'll only pay $50.