Question

A politician’s support grew from 42% by 3 percentage points to 45%. What percent (relative) change is this?

Answer 1

The percent (relative) change is 7.14 percent (%).

Explanation:

We are given that the original support value is at 42%.

Then the support increased by 3%, to reach 45%.

We want the Percentage Change (i.e. relative) change of this increase, which can be computed as:

`(X_(F)-X_(O))/(X_(O))*100`

where
`X_(F)` is the final value reached

`X_(O)` is the original value

So plugging in our known values and computing we have:

`(45-42)/(42)*100= (3)/(42)*100 = 0.071428*100=7.14` percent increase.

Now lets go back and check if we are correct.

`42+42(7.14)/(100)=42+2.9988=42+3=45`

So it works!