If 88% of the town's 25,000 voters cast ballots the number of votes cast is:

(\( \frac{88}{100} \)) x 25,000 = \( \frac{2,200,000}{100} \) = 22,000

The mayor got 89% of the votes cast which is:

(\( \frac{89}{100} \)) x 22,000 = \( \frac{1,958,000}{100} \) = 19,580 votes.

To convert a negative exponent to a positive exponent, calculate the positive exponent then take the reciprocal.

To divide terms with exponents, the base of both exponents must be the same. In this case they are so divide the coefficients and subtract the exponents:

\( \frac{-9b^7}{8b^2} \)
\( \frac{-9}{8} \) b^{(7 - 2)}
-1\(\frac{1}{8}\)b⁵

If the tiger has consumed 49 pounds of food in 7 days that's \( \frac{49}{7} \) = 7 pounds of food per day. The tiger needs to consume 91 - 49 = 42 more pounds of food to reach 91 pounds total. At 7 pounds of food per day that's \( \frac{42}{7} \) = 6 more days.

Calculate the number of vans needed by dividing the number of people that need transported by the capacity of one van:

vans = \( \frac{30}{13} \) = 2\(\frac{4}{13}\)

So, it will take 2 full vans and one partially full van to transport the entire team making a total of 3 vans.