Answer
$200
Work Step by Step
Let $x$ be the original price for the dress.
When the price of the dress gets reduced by a first number 40 % or $\dfrac{40}{100}$ then it can be expressed as $(x-\dfrac{40}{100}x)$
After second reduction , we will come to
$x-0.4x-(x-0.4x)0.4=72$
or, $x-0.4x-0.4x+0.16x=72$
or, $0.36 x=72$
or, $x= 200 $
Thus, the original price of the dress was $200
