All GMAT Math Resources
Example Questions
Example Question #11 : Polygons
What is the area of a regular octagon with sidelength 10?
The area of a regular polygon is equal to one-half the product of its apothem - the perpendicular distance from the center to a side - and its perimeter.
The perimeter of the octagon is
From the diagram below, the apothem of the octagon is .
is one half of the sidelength, or 5. can be seen to be the length of a leg of a triangle with hypotenuse 10, or
This makes the apothem .
The area is therefore
Example Question #2 : Calculating The Area Of A Polygon
What is the area of a regular hexagon with sidelength 10?
A regular hexagon can be seen as a composite of six equilateral triangles, each of whose sidelength is the sidelength of the hexagon:
Each of the triangles has area
Substitute to get
Multiply this by 6: , the area of the hexagon.
Example Question #452 : Geometry
What is the area of the figure with vertices ?
This figure can be seen as a composite of two simple shapes: the rectangle with vertices , and the triangle with vertices .
The rectangle has length and height , so its area is the product of these dimensions, or .
The triangle has as its base the length of the horizontal segment connecting and , which is ; its height is the vertical distance from the other vertex to this segment, which is . The area of this triangle is half the product of the base and the height, which is .
Add the areas of the rectangle and the triangle to get the total area:
Example Question #1 : Calculating The Area Of A Polygon
Note: Figure NOT drawn to scale
What is the area of the above figure?
Assume all angles shown in the figure are right angles.
This figure can be seen as a smaller rectangle cut out of a larger one; refer to the diagram below.
We can fill in the missing sidelengths using the fact that a rectangle has congruent opposite sides. Once this is done, we can multiply length times height of both rectangles to get the area of each, and subtract areas:
square feet
Example Question #1 : Calculating The Area Of A Polygon
The following picture represents a garden with a wall built around it. The garden is represented by , the gray area,; and the wall is represented by the white area.
and are both squares and the area of the garden is equal to the area of the wall.
The length of is .
Find the area of the wall.
AB's length is 7 so the area of ABCD is:
.
The garden area (EFGH) is equal to the wall area .
So
,
therefore
.
Example Question #451 : Geometry
You are given Pentagon such that:
and
Calculate
This pentagon cannot exist
Let be the common measure of , , , and
Then
The sum of the measures of the angles of a pentagon is degrees; this translates to the equation
or
Example Question #452 : Geometry
The above diagram shows a regular pentagon and a regular hexagon sharing a side. Give .
This can more easily be explained if the shared side is extended in one direction, and the new angles labeled.
and are exterior angles of the regular polygons. Also, the measures of the exterior angles of any polygon, one at each vertex, total . Therefore,
Add the measures of the angles to get :
Example Question #3 : Calculating An Angle In A Polygon
Which of the following cannot be the measure of an exterior angle of a regular polygon?
Each of the given choices can be the measure of an exterior angle of a regular polygon.
The sum of the measures of the exterior angles of any polygon, one per vertex, is . In a regular polygon of sides , then all of these exterior angles are congruent, each measuring .
If is the measure of one of these angles, then , or, equivalently, . Therefore, for to be a possible measure of an exterior angle, it must divide evenly into 360. We divide each in turn:
Since 16 is the only one of the choices that does not divide evenly into 360, it cannot be the measure of an exterior angle of a regular polygon.
Example Question #3 : Calculating An Angle In A Polygon
Note: Figure NOT drawn to scale
The figure above shows a square inside a regular pentagon. Give .
Each angle of a square measures ; each angle of a regular pentagon measures . To get , subtract:
.
Example Question #1 : Calculating An Angle In A Polygon
Note: Figure NOT drawn to scale.
Given:
Evaluate .
Call the measure of
, and
so
The sum of the measures of the angles of a hexagon is , so
, which is the measure of .