Midtown Antiques has found that sales have decreased 3% from last year. Sales this year are $ 164,581. To the nearest dollar, find the amount of last year's sales.

$169,518

Step-by-step explanation:

To solve this problem, we need to figure out what last year's sales were. The information in the question tells us that last year's sales was 3% higher than this year's sales. We can use a percentage formula as shown below to solve this problem. Don't forget to change 3% into its decimal form (3% -> -> .03):

P = initial value

r = rate

Now lets plug in the values given in the question:

The answer for last year's sales is going to be $169,518.