I am stuck on a question and can't figure out the method to use to solve it.

Here is the question:
Sole Mates Shoes has expenses of $9,592 per month. What must the store's total income be if it is to make a profit of 12%?

Robert
7th grade honors math student

Problems or statements that involve percentage are sometimes confusing. When you ask a question or make a statement about percentage you need to specify percentage of what. For example, suppose that I bought something for $100 and sold it for $150. I might say my profit is 50%, that is my profit of $50 is 50% of the $100 it cost me. I might also say my profit of $50 is 33.33%, that is my profit is 33.33% of the selling price of $150.

In your problem you have expenses of $9,592 and a profit of 12%. If, by this, you mean that the profit is 12% of $9,592, then the profit is

If the 12% profit is 12% of the income, then the expenses ($9,592) are 100% - 12% = 88% of the income. That is