All ISEE Upper Level Quantitative Resources
Example Questions
Example Question #41 : Variables And Exponents
and are positive integers greater than 1.
Which is the greater quantity?
(A)
(B)
It is impossible to determine which is greater from the information given
(A) and (B) are equal
(B) is greater
(A) is greater
(A) is greater
One way to look at this problem is to substitute . Since , must be positive, and this problem is to compare and .
and
Since 2, , and are positive, by closure, , and by the addition property of inequality,
Substituting back:
(A) is the greater quantity.
Example Question #42 : Variables And Exponents
and are positive integers greater than 1.
Which is the greater quantity?
(A)
(B)
It is impossible to determine which is greater from the information given
(B) is greater
(A) and (B) are equal
(A) is greater
It is impossible to determine which is greater from the information given
Case 1:
Then
and
This makes the quantities equal.
Case 2:
Then
and
This makes (B) greater.
Therefore, it is not clear which quantity, if either, is greater.
Example Question #43 : Variables And Exponents
and are positive integers greater than 1.
Which is the greater quantity?
(A)
(B)
(A) and (B) are equal
(B) is greater
(A) is greater
It is impossible to determine which is greater from the information given
(A) is greater
One way to look at this problem is to substitute . The expressions to be compared are
and
Since is positive, so is , and
Substituting back,
,
making (A) greater.
Example Question #44 : Variables And Exponents
Factor:
The expression is a prime polynomial.
We can rewrite as follows:
Each group can be factored - the first as the difference of squares, the second as a pair with a greatest common factor. This becomes
,
which, by distribution, becomes
Example Question #45 : Variables And Exponents
is a positive number; is the additive inverse of .
Which is the greater quantity?
(a)
(b)
(b) is the greater quantity
(a) is the greater quantity
(a) and (b) are equal
It is impossible to determine which is greater from the information given
(b) is the greater quantity
If is the additive inverse of , then, by definition,
.
, as the difference of the squares of two expressions, can be factored as follows:
Since , it follows that
Another consequence of being the additive inverse of is that
, so
is positive, so is as well.
It follows that .
Example Question #1 : How To Divide Exponential Variables
Half of one hundred divided by five and multiplied by one-tenth is __________.
10
1
2
5
1
Let's take this step by step. "Half of one hundred" is 100/2 = 50. Then "half of one hundred divided by five" is 50/5 = 10. "Multiplied by one-tenth" really is the same as dividing by ten, so the last step gives us 10/10 = 1.
Example Question #2 : How To Divide Exponential Variables
Simplify:
Example Question #46 : Variables And Exponents
Simplify:
Break the fraction up and apply the quotient of powers rule:
Example Question #4 : How To Divide Exponential Variables
Simplify:
To simplify this expression, look at the like terms separately. First, simplify . This becomes . Then, deal with the . Since the bases are the same and you're dividing, you can subtract exponents. This gives you Since the exponent is positive, you put in the numerator. This gives you a final answer of .
Example Question #5 : How To Divide Exponential Variables
is a negative number.
Which is the greater quantity?
(a) The reciprocal of
(b) The reciprocal of
(b) is the greater quantity
(a) and (b) are equal
(a) is the greater quantity
It is impossible to determine which is greater from the information given
(b) is the greater quantity
A negative number raised to an odd power is negative; a negative number raised to an even power is positive. It follows that is negative and is positive. Also, the reciprocal of a nonzero number assumes the same sign as the number itself, so the reciprocal of is positive and that of is negative. It follows that the reciprocal of is the greater of the two.