Mathematics Research is an important tool businesses use for strategic planning. On average, businesses spend about 3.5 percent of sales on research activities each year. In a recent year, the top businesses worldwide in terms of research expenditures were Microsoft, Ford, and Pfizer. Microsoft invested $7.8 billion on research with sales of $36.8 billion. Ford’s investment was $7.6 billion for research with $164 billion in sales. Pfizer’s research budget was $7.1 billion and sales were $45.2 billion. Calculate the percentage of annual sales each company invested in research. Determine the percentage of sales invested in research by all three companies combined.

Compare it with the average of all businesses.