GMAT Math : Problem-Solving Questions

Study concepts, example questions & explanations for GMAT Math

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Example Questions

Example Question #461 : Problem Solving Questions

Trapezoid

Refer to the above Trapezoid . There exists Trapezoid  such that

Trapezoid  Trapezoid , and  has length 66. 

To the nearest whole, give the area of Trapezoid .

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

The similarity ratio of the trapezoids is the ratio of the length of one side to that of the corresponding side of the other. For these trapezoids, we take the ratio of the lengths of corresponding sides  and :

.

The ratio of the areas is the square of this, or 

.

The area of Trapezoid  is one half the product of the height  and the sum of bases  and :

Multiply this by the area ratio:

.

The correct response is 1,271.

Example Question #5 : Calculating Whether Quadrilaterals Are Similar

Rhombus  Rhombus ; Rhombus  has area 90; Rhombus  has area 360. What is the length of diagonal  ?

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

The area of a rhombus is half the product of the lengths of its diagonals, so we can take advantage of this to find  from the known measurements of Rhombus :

The ratio of the area of Rhombus  to that of Rhombus is 4, so their similarity ratio is the square root of this, or 2. We can calculate  now:

Example Question #6 : Calculating Whether Quadrilaterals Are Similar

In Quadrilateral ,  ,  is a right angle, and diagonal  has length 24. 

There exists Quadrilateral  such that Quadrilateral  Quadrilateral , and .

Give the length of .

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

The Quadrilateral  with its diagonals is shown below. We call the point of intersection :

Kite

The diagonals of a quadrilateral with two pairs of adjacent congruent sides - a kite - are perpendicular. , the diagonal that connects the common vertices of the pairs of adjacent sides, bisects the other diagonal, making  the midpoint of . Therefore, .

 also bisects the  and angles of the kite, so the result is that two 30-60-90 triangles,  and , and two 45-45-90 triangles ,  and , are formed; also, , being isosceles, is a 45-45-90 triangle. 

Examine . Since its short leg  has length 12, by the 30-60-90 Theorem, its hypotenuse, , has twice this length, or 24.

Examine . Since a leg  has length 12, by the 45-45-90 Theorem, its hypotenuse, , has length  times this, or .

Since by similarity, corresponding sides are in proportion,

 

 

Example Question #462 : Problem Solving Questions

Trapezoid

Refer to the above Trapezoid . There exists Trapezoid  such that

Trapezoid  Trapezoid , and  has length 60. 

Give the length of .

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

Construct the perpendicular segment from  to  and let  be its point of intersection with . By construction, the trapezoid is divided into Rectangle  and right triangle . Since opposite sides of a rectangle are congruent,  and ; as a consequence of the latter, . By the Pythagrean Theorem, the length of the hypotenuse  of right triangle   can be calculated from the length of legs  and :

The figure, with the segment and the calculated measurements, is below.

Trapezoid

Since Trapezoid  Trapezoid , by proportionality of corresponding sides of similar figures:

Example Question #463 : Problem Solving Questions

Rhombus  Rhombus . Rhombus  has perimeter 80; Rhombus  has perimeter 180; .

Find the length of diagonal .

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

A rhombus has four sides the same length, so each side of Rhombus  has length one fourth of 80, or 20; each side of Rhombus  has length one fourth of 180, or 45. 

The diagonals of a rhombus are each other's perpendicular bisectors, so, if we let  be the point of intersection of the diagonals of Rhombus  and , we form four congruent right triangles. 

We will examine ; and,.

By the Pythagorean Theorem, 

and 

Since corresponding sides of similar figures are in proportion, so are corresponding diagonals. Therefore,

Example Question #9 : Calculating Whether Quadrilaterals Are Similar

Rhombus  Rhombus .

Give the ratio of the area of Rhombus  to that of Rhombus .

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

The angles of the rhombus measure:

;

, since opposite angles of a rhombus, as in any other parallelogram, are congruent;

 and , since consecutive angles of a rhombus are supplementary (the sum of their degree measures is 180).

The diagonals of a rhombus are each other's perpendicular bisectors as well as the bisectors of the angles, so  and , whose point of intersection we will call , divide Rhombus  into four 30-60-90 triangles. If we examine , we see that its short leg  has length half that of , so . By the 30-60-90 Triangle Theorem, long leg  has length  this, or , and the diagonal  has measure twice this, or .

The ratio of the lengths of corresponding diagonals of the rhombuses is the same as the similarity ratios of the sides, so the similarity ratio of Rhombus  to Rhombus  is 

The ratio of the areas is the square of the similarity ratio, which is

That is, 12 to 1.

 

Example Question #4 : Calculating Whether Quadrilaterals Are Similar

In Quadrilateral ,  , and  is a right angle; .

There exists Quadrilateral  such that Quadrilateral  Quadrilateral , and .

Give the length of .

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

The Quadrilateral  with its diagonals is shown below. We call the point of intersection :

Kite

The diagonals of a quadrilateral with two pairs of adjacent congruent sides - a kite - are perpendicular; also,  bisects the  and angles of the kite. Consequently, two congruent 30-60-90 triangles,  and , and two congruent 45-45-90 triangles ,  and , are formed; also, , being an isosceles right triangle, is a 45-45-90 triangle. , the hypotenuse of , has length 16, so by the 30-60-90 Triangle Theorem, its shorter leg  has length half this, or 8. Also,  is a leg of , so by the 45-45-90 Theorem, the hypotenuse  has length  times this, or .

Corresponding sides of similar quadrilaterals are in proportion, so

Example Question #11 : Calculating Whether Quadrilaterals Are Similar

In Quadrilateral ,   is a right angle.

There exists Quadrilateral  such that Quadrilateral  Quadrilateral , and .

Which of the following is true about the areas of the two quadrilaterals?

Possible Answers:

Quadrilateral  and Quadrilateral  have the same area.

Quadrilateral  has area twice that of Quadrilateral .

Quadrilateral  has area three times that of Quadrilateral .

Quadrilateral  has area twice that of Quadrilateral .

Quadrilateral  has area three times that of Quadrilateral .

Correct answer:

Quadrilateral  has area twice that of Quadrilateral .

Explanation:

We will assume that  and  have common measure 1 for the sake of simplcity; this reasoning is independent of the actual measure of .

The Quadrilateral  with its diagonals is shown below. We call the point of intersection :

Kite

The diagonals of a quadrilateral with two pairs of adjacent congruent sides - a kite - are perpendicular; also,  bisects the  and angles of the kite. Consequently,  is a 30-60-90 triangle and  is a 45-45-90 triangle. By the 30-60-90 Theorem, since  and  are the short leg and hypotenuse of ,

 .

By the 45-45-90 Theorem, since  and  are a leg and the hypotenuse of 

The similarity ratio of Quadrilateral  to Quadrilateral  can be found by finding the ratio of the length of side  to corresponding side :

The ratio of the areas is the square of the similarity ratio: 

The correct choice is that Quadrilateral  has area twice that of Quadrilateral .

Example Question #231 : Geometry

The area of a trapezoid is 1,600 square centimeters. Its height is 24 centimeters, and one base is one decimeter longer than the other. What is the length of the longer base?

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

Let  be the longer base. Then, since this is ten centimeters (= 1 decimeter) longer than the shorter, the shorter base has length . Substitute  in the formula for the area of a trapezoid, and solve for :

 

 centimeters

Example Question #1 : Calculating The Length Of The Side Of A Quadrilateral

The area of a trapezoid is 6,000 square inches. Its height is twice the length of its ionger base, which is three times the length of its shorter base. What is the height of the trapezoid?

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

Let  be the length of the shorter base. Then  is the length of its longer base, and  is the height. Substitute  in the area formula:

The height is six times this, or  inches.

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