GRE Math : GRE Quantitative Reasoning

Study concepts, example questions & explanations for GRE Math

varsity tutors app store varsity tutors android store varsity tutors ibooks store

Example Questions

Example Question #4 : How To Simplify Square Roots

Which of the following is equivalent to \frac{x + \sqrt{3}}{3x + \sqrt{2}}?

Possible Answers:

\frac{3x^{2} - \sqrt{6}}{9x^{2} + 2}

\frac{4x + \sqrt{5}}{3x + 2}

\frac{3x^{2} -x \sqrt{2} + 3x\sqrt{3} - \sqrt{6}}{9x^{2} - 2}

\frac{3x^{2} + 3x\sqrt{2} + x\sqrt{3} +\sqrt{6}}{9x^{2} - 2}

\frac{3x^{2} + \sqrt{6}}{3x - 2}

Correct answer:

\frac{3x^{2} -x \sqrt{2} + 3x\sqrt{3} - \sqrt{6}}{9x^{2} - 2}

Explanation:

Multiply by the conjugate and the use the formula for the difference of two squares:

\frac{x + \sqrt{3}}{3x + \sqrt{2}}

\frac{x + \sqrt{3}}{3x + \sqrt{2}}\cdot \frac{3x - \sqrt{2}}{3x - \sqrt{2}}

\frac{3x^{2} -x \sqrt{2} + 3x\sqrt{3} - \sqrt{6}}{(3x)^{2} - (\sqrt{2})^{2}} 

\frac{3x^{2} -x \sqrt{2} + 3x\sqrt{3} - \sqrt{6}}{9x^{2} - 2}

Example Question #5 : How To Simplify Square Roots

Which of the following is the most simplified form of:

 

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

First find all of the prime factors of 

So 

Example Question #11 : How To Simplify Square Roots

What is  equal to?

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

 

1. We know that , which we can separate under the square root:

 

2. 144 can be taken out since it is a perfect square: . This leaves us with:

This cannot be simplified any further.

Example Question #611 : Gre Quantitative Reasoning

Which of the following is equivalent to:

?

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

To begin with, factor out the contents of the radicals.  This will make answering much easier:

They both have a common factor .  This means that you could rewrite your equation like this:

This is the same as:

These have a common .  Therefore, factor that out:

Example Question #1 : Factoring Common Factors Of Squares And Square Roots

Simplify:

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

These three roots all have a  in common; therefore, you can rewrite them:

Now, this could be rewritten:

Now, note that 

Therefore, you can simplify again:

Now, that looks messy! Still, if you look carefully, you see that all of your factors have ; therefore, factor that out:

This is the same as:

Example Question #31 : Basic Squaring / Square Roots

Simplify the following:

Possible Answers:

It cannot be simplified any further

Correct answer:

Explanation:

Begin by factoring each of the roots to see what can be taken out of each:

These can be rewritten as:

Notice that each of these has a common factor of .  Thus, we know that we can rewrite it as:

Example Question #32 : Basic Squaring / Square Roots

Simplify the following:

Possible Answers:

The expression cannot be simplified any further.

Correct answer:

Explanation:

Clearly, all three of these roots have a common factor  inside of their radicals. We can start here with our simplification. Therefore, rewrite the radicals like this:

We can simplify this a bit further:

From this, we can factor out the common :

Example Question #5 : How To Find The Common Factor Of Square Roots

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

To attempt this problem, attempt to simplify the roots of the numerator and denominator:

Notice how both numerator and denominator have a perfect square:

The  term can be eliminated from the numerator and denominator, leaving

Example Question #32 : Arithmetic

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

For this problem, begin by simplifying the roots. As it stands, numerator and denominator have a common factor of  in the radical:

And as it stands, this  is multiplied by a perfect square in the numerator and denominator:

The  term can be eliminated from the top and bottom, leaving

Example Question #612 : Gre Quantitative Reasoning

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

To solve this problem, try simplifying the roots by factoring terms; it may be noticeable from observation that both numerator and denominator have a factor of  in the radical:

We can see that the denominator has a perfect square; now try factoring the  in the numerator:

We can see that there's a perfect square in the numerator:

Since there is a  in the radical in both the numerator and denominator, we can eliminate it, leaving

Tired of practice problems?

Try live online GRE prep today.

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