Hi Sierra,

The final selling price was $19.95 and the profit was $5.95 so the cost was $19.95 - $5.95 = $14.00. Thus your original question is

$5.95 is what percent of $14.00?

This can immediately be put into a mathematical sentence (an equation).

The word is in the sentence above can be seen as is equal to and hence is the equal sign.
Percent means "per 100" or over 100.
What is the thing you don't know so call it x.
Of is multiplication as in 25 is half of 50.

Hence

$5.95 is what percent of $14.00?

becomes

$5.95 = x/100 × $14.00

To solve for x multiply both sides by 100 and divide both sides by $14.00 to get

x = $595/$14.00 = 42.5

Hence $5.95 is 42.5 percent of $14.00.

I hope this helps,
Penny