Free and Open Source

Practice SAT Math Section

Philip Brocoum
March 9, 2007

• Calculators are allowed.

• Consider all numbers to be real numbers.

• Figures are drawn to scale and reside in a plane unless otherwise specified.

• The domain of any function f is assumed to be all real numbers x such that f (x) is a
real number.

r w
w h
h
l
b l
2
A = πr
C = 2πr A = lw A = 21 bh V = lwh

45◦ √
r s 2
60◦ s
h c 2x
b x
30◦ 45◦
a √ s
x 3
V = πr 2 h c2 = a2 + b2 Special Right Triangles

• A full circle is 360◦ .

• The sum of the angles of a triangle is 180◦ .

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0.1 Section A. 25 minutes. 20 questions.
Problem 1 Three times a number is equal to one half that same number. What
is the number?
A 9 B 3 C 1/2 D 10 E 0

Solution (E): Pretend I have a certain number of apples. Somehow,

whether I triple my apple collection or throw half away, I end up with
the same number of apples. This can only happen if I didn’t have
any apples to begin with (if I triple or halve zero apples, I still have
zero apples).
3x = (1/2)x
(5/2)x = 0 subtract 12 x
x=0 divide by 25

Problem 2 If x + 7 is 3 less than 11, what is 21 x?

A 7 B 1/2 C 2 D 1 E 3

Solution (B): Pretend I’m holding a bag of apples (x) and there are
7 more apples on the table. Altogether, I have 3 less than 11 apples,
or 8 apples. With 7 apples on the table, that leaves 1 apple in the
bag. 1/2 of 1 apple is 1/2 of an apple.

x + 7 = 11 − 3
x+7 =8 11 − 3 = 8
x=1 subtract 7
(1/2)x = 1/2 divide by 21

Problem 3 If the letter H is folded in half horizontally, its top half coincides
exactly with its bottom half. Which of the following letters could not
be folded in such a manner?

A A B B C C D D E E

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 Solution (A): Think of it like a mirror:

Problem 4 What is the value of x in the figure below if a + b = 122?

x◦

a◦ b◦

Note: Figure not drawn to scale.

A 60 B 180 C 52 D 58 E 68

Solution (D): Basically, we are just looking for the third angle of
the triangle. Let c◦ be the measure of that angle. We know x = c
because they are vertical angles. Two angles are vertical if they are
across from each other and formed by the same two intersecting lines.
Remember that the angles of a triangle sum to 180◦ , so a+b+c = 180.
Since a + b = 122 we can solve for x:

x◦
a + b + c = 180
c ◦
a + b + x = 180 c = x
b◦ 122 + x = 180 a + b = 122
a◦
x = 58 subtract 122

Problem 5 Which equation could represent the table below?

x −3 −1 0 4 5
y −7 −3 −1 7 9

A y = 2x − 1 B y =x−2 C y = x2 − 9

D y = 1 − 2x E y = 3x + 3

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Solution (A): What the table means is that, for example, if I plug 4
into the equation as x I should get out 7 as y. Let’s try equation (C).

y = x2 − 9
?
(7) = (4)2 − 9
?
7 = 16 − 9
X
7=7

It works, so why isn’t (C) the correct answer? Because it doesn’t

always work. We just got lucky in the particular case where x = 4
and y = 7. Let’s try the case where x = −1 and y = −3.

y = x2 − 9
?
(−3) = (−1)2 − 9
?
−3 = 1 − 9
−3 6= −8

It doesn’t work in that case. The correct equation must satisfy all
the values in the table. Equation (A) y = 2x − 1 is the only equation
that does this.

y = 2x − 1 y = 2x − 1 y = 2x − 1
? ? ?
(−7) = 2(−3) − 1 (−3) = 2(−1) − 1 −1 = 2(0) − 1
? ? ?
−7 = −6 − 1 −3 = −2 − 1 −1 = 0 − 1
X X X
−7 = −7 −3 = −3 −1 = −1

y = 2x − 1 y = 2x − 1
? ?
(7) = 2(4) − 1 (9) = 2(5) − 1
? ?
7=8−1 9 = 10 − 1
X X
7=7 9=9

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Problem 6 The graph below shows the percentage of Sarah’s daily caloric intake
in each of the five food groups. If fruits account for 285 calories, how
many calories does she eat per day?

Fruits
Grains

15%
25%

Vegetables 22%
15%

23% Dairy

Meats

Sarah’s Daily Caloric Intake

A 42.75 B 1900 C 2000 D 15 E 1500

Solution (B): The 285 fruit calories account for 15% of Sarah’s daily
calories.
285 = .15x
1900 = x divide by .15

n
Problem 7 If 3n = 27k , what is ?
k

A 1/9 B 2 C 3 D 9 E 0

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 Solution (C): First rewrite 27 as 33 (because 3 × 3 × 3 = 27) so the
equation becomes 3n = (33 )k . Remember that if something is raised
to a power, and then raised to another power, the powers multiply.
For example, (23 )4 = 23×4 = 212 . Also recall that if two numbers are
equal, and their bases are equal, then their exponents are equal. For
example, if 24 = 2x then 4 = x. We can now solve for nk .

3n = 27k
3n = (33 )k 27 = 33
3n = 33k (ax )y = axy
n = 3k if ax = ay then x = y
n/k = 3 divide by k

Problem 8 A computer costs $1,000. Store A is selling the computer at a 20%

discount. Store B is selling the same computer at a 10% discount, plus
an additional 10% discount is taken off from the already discounted
price because of a special sale. How much money is saved by buying
the computer from store A rather than from store B?

A $30 B $8 C $100 D $0 E $10

Solution (E): If a is the price of the computer at store A, and b

is the price of the computer at store B, what we are looking for is
b − a. In other words, the computer costs more at store B, and we
are looking for exactly how much more. If the computer at store A is
discounted 20%, that means it is selling for 80% of the regular price
because 100% − 20% = 80%. The price of the computer at store B is
tricky because you have to discount it by 10%, and then discount it
by another 10%. This is not the same as discounting it by 20%.

a = .8(1000) b = .9(.9(1000))
a = 800 b = .9(900)
b = 810

b − a = 810 − 800
b − a = 10

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Problem 9 If f (x) = 21 x − 2, what is 4f (x) + 5?

A 2x + 12 B 4 C f (4x) + 5

D 2x − 3 E 2x + 3

Solution (D):
4f (x) + 5
4((1/2)x − 2) + 5 substitute f (x) = 21 x − 2
4((1/2)x) + 4(−2) + 5 distribute the 4
(4/2)x − 8 + 5 multiply
2x − 3 simplify

Problem 10 What’s the greatest possible area of a triangle with one side of length
5 and another side of length 7?

A 35 B 12 C 17.5 D 75 E 144

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 Solution (C): The area of a triangle is 21 bh. Let the side of length
7 be the base. We now want to maximize the height. The height
cannot possibly be larger than either of the other two sides of the
triangle, so the maximum height is 5. That makes the maximum area
1
2
(7)(5) = 12 (35) = 17.5.

h=5

5
h<5

h<5
5

Problem 11 Pretend 155,000 people voted in a Pepsi VS Coke taste test. If Pepsi
won by a ratio of 7 to 3, how many votes did Pepsi get?

A 46,500 B 108,500 C 100,000 D 361,667 E 66,429

Solution (B): Winning by a ratio of 7 to 3 means that for every 3

votes Coke got, Pepsi got 7. A better way to think about it is that
for every 10 votes cast, Pepsi got 7 and Coke got 3. The ratio 7 : 3 is
not the fraction 73 , but it can be converted into fractions. Pepsi got
7 3 7 3
10
of the votes, and Coke got 10 . Note that 10 + 10 = 10
10
= 1. Thus,
we can find the number of votes for Pepsi.
7
(155,000) = 108,500
10

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Problem 12 If n is an integer from 1 to 100, what is the probability that 3n + 5 is
less than 38?
1 11
A 5% B 7:3 C 10
D 0 E 100

number of choices
Solution (C): Probability =
number of possibilities

3n + 5 < 38
3n < 33 subtract 5
n < 11 divide by 3

If n < 11 that means n can be 1, 2, 3, . . . , 10. Thus, there are

10 choices for n that will make 3n + 5 less than 38, and 100 to-
10 1
tal possibilities for n, so the probability we are looking for is 100 = 10 .

Intuitively, probability is the fraction of possible outcomes that

will lead to a certain event. If 100 things can happen, and 10 of
10 1
those things will give us what we want, the probability is 100 = 10

Problem 13 If n is greater than 1, then n4 is how much larger than n2 ?

A n2 (n2 − 1) B n2 C 2

D n(n − 1) E n3

Solution (A): Let x be the difference between n4 and n2 . Then

n4 = n2 + x and we are trying to find x. In other words, x is “how
much larger” n4 is than n2 . We simply solve for x.

n4 = n2 + x
n4 − n2 = x subtract n2
n2 (n2 − 1) = x factor

Remember that n4 − n2 6= n4−2 .

Problem 14 A right circular cylinder has a height of 10 and a radius of 4. A

line is drawn from the exact center of the cylinder to a point on the
circumference of one of the bases. How long is this line?
√ √ √
A 6 B 36 C 3 D 41 E 9

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Solution (D): Oh boy. Don’t even attempt this problem without
drawing a picture.

A
10
x
5

B 4 C

Point A is the center of the cylinder. Point B is the point on the

circumference of the base. Point C is the point in the center of the
base. We are looking for x, the distance from A to B. When you
draw the picture, you can see the nice right triangle that emerges.
We can now use the Pythagorean Theorem to solve for x.

a2 + b2 = c2
42 + 52 = x2 substitute
16 + 25 = x2 square
41 = x2 add
√
41 = x square root

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