Answer: 17%
Step-by-step explanation:
I think they're saying your expenses for everything this month were $500, and of that $500 you spent $85 on clothing.
Let's represent the percentage spent on clothing as "[tex]\star[/tex]". Then
[tex]$\star \% = \frac{85}{500}$[/tex]
[tex]$\frac{\star}{100} = \frac{85}{500}$[/tex]
which means
[tex]$\star = \frac{85}{500} \times 100 = 17$[/tex]
(If you don't understand how I moved the 100, just think about it for a bit.)
So the answer is [tex]\boxed{17\%}[/tex].
