The striton family had a meal catered for a wedding rehearsal dinner. the cost of the dinner was $476. there was a 5% sales tax and they left a 15% tip. what was the total cost including the sales tax and the tip?

Total paid $574.77.  $476 x .05 (tax)= $23.80 total tax
                                 $476 + $23.80= $499.80 dinner + tax
                                 $499.80 x .15 (tip)= $74.97 tip
 Add $499.80 + $74.97 = $574.77 for dinner, tax and tip

In real life you probably would round the dinner and tax to $500, and tip 15% on that making the total $575.00

It's like discovering the answer to a puzzle. the purpose in solving an equation is to find the value or values of the variable that makes it a true statement. any value of the variable that makes the equation true is called a solution to the equation.