Determine whether the following claims could be true. Explain your answer.

By turning off her lights and closing her windows at night, Maria saved $120 \%$ on her monthly energy bill.

Determine whether the following claims could be true. Explain your answer.

Restaurant prices have increased $100 \%$ in the last $20$ years.

Determine whether the following claims could be true. Explain your answer.

Your computer is $500 \%$ faster than mine.

Find the absolute change and the percentage change in the following cases.

The average sale price of a house in the United States decreased from $\$ 301,000$ in February $2008$ to $\$ 152,000$ in February $2013$.

State whether the following statements are true or false, and explain why. If a statement is false, state the true change.

If the national economy shrank at an annual rate of $4\%$ per year for three consecutive years, then the economy shrank by $12\%$ over the three-year period.

State whether the following statements are true or false, and explain why. If a statement is false, state the true change.

You receive a pay raise of $5 \%$, then receive a pay cut of $5 \%$. After the two changes in pay, your salary is unchanged.

Carry out the indicated operations and give your answer with the specified number of significant digits.

$231.89 \div 0.034 ; 2$ significant digits

Determine whether the following claims could be true. Explain your answer.

Your computer is $250 \%$ slower than mine.

Determine whether the following claim could be true. Explain your answer. Through hard training, Renee improved her $10$-kilometer running time by $100 \%$.

In the following statements, express the first number as a percentage of the second number.

The full-time year-round median salary for U.S. men in $2010$ was $\$ 42,800$, and the full-time year-round median salary for U.S. women in $2010$ was $\$ 34,700$ (most recent data).

State whether the following statement is true or false, and explain why. If a statement is false, state the true change. A high school reports that its students' SAT scores were down by $10 \%$ in one year. The next year, however, SAT scores rose by $20 \%$. The high school principal announces, "Overall, test scores have improved by $10 \%$ over the past two years."

State whether the following statements are true or false, and explain why. If a statement is false, state the true change.

If the profits in your consulting business increase by $4 \%$ one year and decrease by $2 \%$ the following year, your profits are up by $2 \%$ over two years.

The 1992 U.S. presidential election featured three major candidates, with the vote split as follows. For this exercise, assume that all votes were cast for one of these three candidates.

a. Calculate each candidate's percentage of the popular vote. Who won a plurality? Did any candidate win a majority? b. Calculate each candidate's percentage of the electoral vote. Who won a plurality? Did any candidate win a majority? c. Suppose that Perot had dropped out of the election. Is it possible that Bush would have won the popular vote? Could Bush have become President in that case? Explain. d. Suppose that Bush had dropped out of the election. Is it possible that Perot would have won the popular vote? Could Perot have become President in that case? Explain.

State whether the following statement is true or false, and explain why. If a statement is false, state the true change. You receive a pay raise of $6 \%$, followed later by a pay cut of $6 \%$. After the two changes in pay, your salary is unchanged.