Kitchen chairs are purchased wholesale for $36 by a discount furniture store. then, the store marks up the chairs by 60 percent. the store has a special sale where all titems are marked down by 20 percent. how much would two chairs cost during the sale?

Ok, this is how I tackle these problems - 1) I evaluate what's happening in the problem. Chairs are being sold at a store on sale. 2) I write the problem out in stages as shown: 
36 x .60 = 21.60       Calculate the markup of 60 percent.
36.00 + 21.60= 57.60     Add the markup to the original price.
57.60 x .20 = 11.52            Find the discount of 20 percent on the new price.
57.60 - 11.52 = 46.08             Subtract the discount from the new price. 
46.08 x 2 = $92.16                      Multiply the discounted price by 2 to find the                   price of 2 chairs. 

Multiplication property of zero