Colligative properties are properties of solutions that do not depend on the kind of solvent, but only on the amount of solute molecules. Examples are lowering of the freezing point of a solution, elevation of the boiling point, and osmotic pressure. The first and last one have important applications. Freezing point depression is used in winter (in Holland at least, I don't suppose in Jordan) to melt snow on the roads by putting salt on it. And also in the old fashioned way to make ice cream, since you can make much lower temperatures than zero by adding salt to an ice/water mixture. Osmotic pressure has many applications, in particular in living systems: trees use it to get water to their leaves, to give just one example. You can also use it to desalinate water using pressure and semipermeable membranes. I don't know if there are applications of an increased boiling point. I assume adding salt to the water would decrease cooking time for your potatoes, but to make that count you probably make the potatoes (or rice, or pasta) inedible. Using salt gives a larger effect than sugar for instance, since the number of particles count, and every salt molecule gives two (or more) particles, so the effect is twice (or more) as large.
Any textbook on elementary thermodynamics will give you a derivation of how freezing point, boiling point, and osmotic pressure depend on the amount of solute. Also wikipedia has entries on all of them.