The total expenditure by Liam is calculated as,
[tex]\begin{gathered} E=(\text{ No. of apple bag}\cdot\text{ Cost per apple bag}) \\ +(\text{ No. of banana bunches}\cdot\text{ Cost per banana bunch}) \\ +(\text{ No. of pineapples}\cdot\text{ Cost per pineapple}) \end{gathered}[/tex]
Substitute the values and simplify,
[tex]\begin{gathered} E=3\mleft(4.99\mright)+2\mleft(1.78\mright)+4\mleft(2.86\mright) \\ E=14.97+3.56+5.72 \\ E=24.25 \end{gathered}[/tex]
Given that the sales tax rate is 6%, then the total cost (TC) is obtained as follows,
[tex]\begin{gathered} TC=E+(6\text{ percent of }E) \\ TC=E+\frac{6}{100}E \\ TC=E+0.06E \\ TC=1.06E \end{gathered}[/tex]
Substitute the value of E,
[tex]\begin{gathered} TC=1.06\cdot(24.25) \\ TC=25.705 \end{gathered}[/tex]
Thus, the total cost is $25.705.
