After a discount of \( 13 \frac{1}{3} \% \), a publishing company purchased an offset printing press for \( \$ 281,000 \). What was the original price of the machine? Round to the nearest cent

1. Let the original price be \( x \). 2. A discount of \( 13 \frac{1}{3}\% \) is equivalent to a discount of \[ 13 \frac{1}{3}\% = 13.333\ldots\% = \frac{2}{15}. \] 3. This means that after the discount, the price paid is \[ x - \frac{2}{15}x = \frac{13}{15}x. \] 4. We are given the discounted price as \( \$281,\!000 \), so: \[ \frac{13}{15}x = 281,\!000. \] 5. Solve for \( x \) by multiplying both sides by \( \frac{15}{13} \): \[ x = 281,\!000 \times \frac{15}{13}. \] 6. Calculate the product: \[ 281,\!000 \times 15 = 4,\!215,\!000, \] so \[ x = \frac{4,\!215,\!000}{13} \approx 324,\!230.77. \] 7. Therefore, the original price of the machine was approximately \( \$324,\!230.77 \).