GMAT Math : Geometry

Study concepts, example questions & explanations for GMAT Math

varsity tutors app store varsity tutors android store

Example Questions

Example Question #1 : Dsq: Calculating The Diagonal Of A Prism

Find the length of the diagonal of cube .

I)  has a volume of .

II)  has a surface area of .

Possible Answers:

Statement II is sufficient to answer the question, but statement I is not sufficient to answer the question.

Both statements are needed to answer the question.

Statement I is sufficient to answer the question, but statement II is not sufficient to answer the question.

Either statement is sufficient to answer the question.

Neither statement is sufficient to answer the question. More information is needed.

Correct answer:

Either statement is sufficient to answer the question.

Explanation:

To find the length of the diagonal, we need the side length.

I) Gives us the volume of the cube. Take the cubed root to find the side length.

II) Gives us the surface area, divide by 6 (the number of faces in a cube) and take the square root to find the side length.

Diagonal of a cube is the side length times the square root of three. Alternatively, this can be found using the Pythagorean Theorem twice.

Either way, we can use I) or II) to find our side lenght and then our diagonal.

 

Example Question #71 : Rectangular Solids & Cylinders

What is the diagonal of a rectangular prism?

1) Its surface area is 

2) Its height = twice its width = thrice its length.

Possible Answers:

Together, the two statements are sufficient.

Neither of the statements, separate or together, is sufficient.

Statement 2 alone is sufficient.

Statement 1 alone is sufficient.

Either of the statements is sufficient.

Correct answer:

Together, the two statements are sufficient.

Explanation:

The diagonal of a rectangular prism is found via the formula 

The second statement reduces this to 

However, the actual length is unknown. Statement 1 allows the calculation of a numerical value:

 

Example Question #1 : Dsq: Calculating The Length Of An Edge Of A Prism

A carpenter is building a box to hold his tools. Find the legth of the second smallest side of the box.

I) The box will have a volume of .

II) The smallest side is half the length of the longest side and the middle side is three-quarters of the length of the longest side. 

Possible Answers:

Statement I is sufficient to answer the question, but statement II is not sufficient to answer the question.

Either statement is sufficient to answer the question.

Statement II is sufficient to answer the question, but statement I is not sufficient to answer the question.

Both statements are needed to answer the question.

 

Neither statement is sufficient to answer the question. More information is needed.

Correct answer:

Both statements are needed to answer the question.

 

Explanation:

Volume of a prism is found by:

We are given the volume in statement I.

We are told how the sides relate in statement II.

Put together these two statements will allow us to set up an equation to find the middle side.

Example Question #6 : Prisms

A pirate wants to hide all of his treasure. He commisions a local woodworker to build him a series of wooden chests of volume of . Find the length of the longest side given the following:

I) The shortest side will be  the length of the medium side.

II) The middle side will be 2 feet long.

Possible Answers:

Both statements are needed to answer the question.

Statement I is sufficient to answer the question, but statement II is not sufficient to answer the question.

Statement II is sufficient to answer the question, but statement I is not sufficient to answer the question.

Neither statement is sufficient to answer the question. More information is needed.

Either statement is sufficient to answer the question.

Correct answer:

Both statements are needed to answer the question.

Explanation:

A pirate wants to hide all of his treasure. He commisions a local woodworker to build him a series of wooden chests of volume of . Find the length of the longest side given the following:

I) The shortest side will be  the length of the medium side

II) The middle side will be 2 feet long

Use I) and II) to find the length of the smallest side

Next, use the short and medium sides, along with info in the prompt, to find the last side:

Example Question #355 : Data Sufficiency Questions

Find the height of a box used to ship a computer, given the following:

I) The computer, along with all the cushioning, will take up a space of .

II) The width of the box will be  the length of the box.

Possible Answers:

Either statement is sufficient to answer the question.

Both statements are needed to answer the question.

Statement II is sufficient to answer the question, but statement I is not sufficient to answer the question.

Statement I is sufficient to answer the question, but statement II is not sufficient to answer the question.

Neither statement is sufficient to answer the question. More information is needed.

 

Correct answer:

Neither statement is sufficient to answer the question. More information is needed.

 

Explanation:

Find the height of a box used to ship a computer, given the following:

I) The computer, along with all the cushioning, will take up a space of 

II) The width of the box will be  the length of the box

 

Begin by recalling the volume of a rectangular prism formula:

Where l,w and h are length, width and height.

Next, use II) to set up a relationship between w and l

Then, use the voume formula:

As you can see, we still have two unknowns, and no way of finding either. 

Therefore, we do not have information.

Example Question #1 : Triangles

Two sides of a triangle are 6 and 6. What is the height of the triangle?

(1) The third side of the triangle is also 6.

(2) One of the angles of the triangle is .

Possible Answers:

Statement (2) ALONE is sufficient, but statement (1) alone is not sufficient.

Statement (1) and (2) TOGETHER are NOT sufficient to answer the question asked, and additional data are needed.

EACH statement ALONE is sufficient.

BOTH statements TOGETHER are sufficient, but NEITHER statement ALONE is sufficient.

Statement (1) ALONE is sufficient, but statement (2) alone is not sufficient.

Correct answer:

EACH statement ALONE is sufficient.

Explanation:

Statement (1) informs us that the triangle is an equilateral triangle, with all sides equal to 6. Therefore, the height would divide the triangle into two 30-60-90 triangles, which have side lengths in a ratio of . For this triangle the hypotenuse would be 6 and the base would be 3. The height would therefore be . SUFFICIENT

Statement (2) also lets you deduce that the triangle is an equilateral triangle. Since the triangle is either isoscles or equilateral (at least 2 sides are equal), that means that two angles are equal. Therefore, if one angle is  , the other two also must be  . See above. SUFFICIENT

Example Question #2 : Dsq: Calculating The Height Of An Acute / Obtuse Triangle

Export-png__7_

Triangle  has height . What is the length of ?

(1) .

(2) .

Possible Answers:

Statement 2 alone is sufficient.

Statements 1 and 2 together are not sufficient.

Statement 1 alone is sufficient.

Both statements together are sufficient.

Each statements alone is sufficient.

Correct answer:

Statements 1 and 2 together are not sufficient.

Explanation:

Since we don't know what type the triangle is, we would not only need information about the lengths of the side but also about the characteristics of the triangle. 

Statement 1 gives us the length of a side. However, we can't do anything, since we don't know the length of DC, which would allow us the know BD with the Pythagorean Theorem.

Statement 2 also only gives us information about one side of the triangle. Alone it doesn't allow us to calculate any other length.

Even taken together these statements are insufficient since, we don't know any pair of lengths to use in the Pythagorean Theorem. Even though the triangle looks like a isosceles triangle, it doesn't mean that it is.

Example Question #2 : Acute / Obtuse Triangles

Export-png__7_

 is a triangle with height . What is the length ?

(1) The triangle has an area of  and .

(2)  and .

Possible Answers:

Statement 1 alone is sufficient.

Statements 1 and 2 together are insufficient.

Both statements together are sufficient.

Each statement alone is sufficient.

Statement 2 alone is sufficient.

Correct answer:

Both statements together are sufficient.

Explanation:

To find the length DC, we need to know AD and AC or any of those two provided that ABC is isosceles or equilateral.

Statement 1 tells us the area of the triangle with information about a part of side AC. Since we don't know properties of the triangle, these other lengths can vest many values, just AC can be 12, 24 or 48. Therefore we don't have enough information.

Statement 2 gives us information about angles of the triangle. From what we are told we can see that the triangle is isosceles. Indeed, we know that  since BD is the height. Therefore . Now, that we know that the triangle is isosceles, we know that AC must be 12, since D is the midpoint of AC. Therefore DC must be 6.

Hence, both statements taken together are sufficient.

Example Question #2 : Triangles

Which of two triangles has greater area,  or  ?

Statement 1: 

Statement 2: 

Possible Answers:

BOTH statements TOGETHER are sufficient to answer the question, but NEITHER statement ALONE is sufficient to answer the question.

EITHER statement ALONE is sufficient to answer the question.

Statement 1 ALONE is sufficient to answer the question, but Statement 2 ALONE is NOT sufficient to answer the question.

BOTH statements TOGETHER are insufficient to answer the question.

Statement 2 ALONE is sufficient to answer the question, but Statement 1 ALONE is NOT sufficient to answer the question.

Correct answer:

BOTH statements TOGETHER are sufficient to answer the question, but NEITHER statement ALONE is sufficient to answer the question.

Explanation:

Statement 1 alone proves that  by the Angle-Angle Postulate, but does not prove anything about the sides, which would be needed to answer this question. Statement 2 alone only gives a relationship between one side of each triangle; without any further information, this is insufficient.

The two statements together, however, present sufficient evidence. Statement 1 proves that the triangles are similar. Statement 2 gives the ratio of one side in  to the corresponding side in , so, as the triangles are similar, this ratio is shared by all three pairs of corresponding sides. Since

,

1.1 is this common ratio, and the ratio of the area of  to  is , making  the larger triangle.

Example Question #3 : Triangles

True or false:

Statement 1: 

Statement 2:  and 

Possible Answers:

Statement 1 ALONE is sufficient to answer the question, but Statement 2 ALONE is NOT sufficient to answer the question.

BOTH statements TOGETHER are sufficient to answer the question, but NEITHER statement ALONE is sufficient to answer the question.

BOTH statements TOGETHER are insufficient to answer the question.

Statement 2 ALONE is sufficient to answer the question, but Statement 1 ALONE is NOT sufficient to answer the question.

EITHER statement ALONE is sufficient to answer the question.

Correct answer:

Statement 2 ALONE is sufficient to answer the question, but Statement 1 ALONE is NOT sufficient to answer the question.

Explanation:

Statement 1 alone gives a proportion between two pairs of corresponding sides of the triangles. This is not enough to prove the triangles similar without the third side proportionality (SSS Simiilarity statement) or the congruence of the included angles (SAS Similarity statement).

Statement 2 gives two congruencies between corresponding angles, which by the Angle-Angle statement is enough to prove the triangles similar.

Tired of practice problems?

Try live online GMAT prep today.

1-on-1 Tutoring
Live Online Class
1-on-1 + Class
Learning Tools by Varsity Tutors