1. **State the problem:** Bob wants to buy three shirts priced at $49.96 each. The store offers a discount: buy two shirts, get 50% off the third shirt. After applying the discount, a 7.1% tax is added to the total. We need to find the average cost per shirt including tax. 2. **Formula and rules:** - Total price before tax = price of 2 shirts + 50% of the 3rd shirt price. - Tax amount = total price before tax \times 7.1\% = total price before tax \times 0.071. - Total price after tax = total price before tax + tax amount. - Average cost per shirt = total price after tax \div 3. 3. **Calculate total price before tax:** Price per shirt = $49.96 Discount on third shirt = 50\% of $49.96 = $49.96 \times 0.5 = $24.98 Total before tax = $49.96 + $49.96 + $24.98 = $124.90 4. **Calculate tax amount:** Tax = $124.90 \times 0.071 = $8.8669 5. **Calculate total price after tax:** Total after tax = $124.90 + $8.8669 = $133.7669 6. **Calculate average cost per shirt:** Average cost = $\frac{133.7669}{3}$ 7. **Simplify average cost:** Average cost = $\frac{\cancel{133.7669}}{\cancel{3}} = 44.5889667$ (approx.) 8. **Final answer:** Average cost per shirt including tax is approximately $44.59$. **Answer: B. 44.59**