Ned has a coupon for one fourth off the cost of any item. Today all items are on sale for one third off. Does it matter whether the store applies the sale first or the coupon first? Explain.

Step-by-step explanation:

Let the cost of the item is C.

Case I :

first sale is applied

so, the price of item  = one third = C - C/3 = 2C/3

Now coupon is applied

so, the price of item = = C/2

case II :

First coupon is applied

so, the price of item = C - C/4 = 3C/4

Now sale is applied

the price of item = = C/2

So, it does not matter that either coupon is applied first or the sale is applied first the final cost of the item remains same.