This is a question from my homework "rosina finds a pair of shorts on the sale rack for $12.50. this price reflects a discount of 60%. what is the original price of the shorts? what is the amount of the discount? "

For this case we can make the following rule of three:
 12.50 > 40%
 x > 100%
 Clearing x we have:
 x = (100/40) * (12.50)
 x = $ 31.25 (original price, without the discount)
 Therefore, the discounted amount is:
 (0.60) * (31.25) = 18.75 $
 
 The original price of the shorts is:
 $ 31.25
 the amount of the discount:
 $ 18.75