During Tax-Free Weekend, Mildred’s Department Store ran a 35% off Everything sale. Hortense went wild and overspent her budget. She ended up having to return
most of it, for which the clerk, Sophie, refunded $140.24 to Hortense’s credit
card. What was the original price of the merchandise Hortense returned? Set up
and solve a valid equation for full credit.

First step is to get rid of the square root. remember that a square root is the same as raising to the (1/2) power. see below: multiply exponents per exponent rules to get: remember you subtract exponents from the denominator and add exponents in the numerator so: simplify further: so a is the correct choice. if you don't understand this google exponent rules and it will you understand. look at the image results.