1. **State the problem:** We need to find the pre-tax cost of the jeans given the final cost including tax is 37.82 and the tax rate is 6.5%. 2. **Formula used:** The final cost including tax is given by: $$\text{Final Cost} = \text{Pre-tax Cost} \times (1 + \text{Tax Rate})$$ where the tax rate is expressed as a decimal. 3. **Convert the tax rate:** $$6.5\% = 0.065$$ 4. **Set up the equation:** $$37.82 = \text{Pre-tax Cost} \times (1 + 0.065) = \text{Pre-tax Cost} \times 1.065$$ 5. **Solve for the pre-tax cost:** $$\text{Pre-tax Cost} = \frac{37.82}{1.065}$$ 6. **Calculate the value:** $$\text{Pre-tax Cost} \approx 35.50$$ 7. **Interpretation:** The pre-tax cost of the jeans was approximately 35.50.