Geometry
Lines and Angles
Properties of intersecting lines:
1. Sum of all the angles formed
By intersecting lines is 3600.
d0
a0 b0
0
So, a+b+c+d = 360 c0
2. Interior angles that combine
To form a line sum to 1800. These
are called supplementary angles.
So:
a+c = 1800
c+b = 1800
b+d = 1800
d+a = 1800
3. Angles found opposite each other where the two lines intersect, are
equal. These are called vertical angles. So,
a=b
c=d
Parallel lines cut by a transversal
In the scenario when parallel b0
a0
Lines are cut by a transversal, a0
b0
All acute angles (angles less than
90 degrees) are equal. Likewise,
a0 b0
All obtuse angles (angles greater
b0 a0
than 90 degrees) are equal.
Also, any acute angle is supplementary to any
Obtuse angle. So, a+b = 180
Problems: Angles
1. If x/(x-y) = 2, what is x.
x0
y0
2. If a+e = 150, find f.
a0 b0
c0 d0
e0 f0
g0 h0
Polygons
A polygon is a closed shape formed by line
segments. For GRE,
you should know:
⚫ Triangles
⚫ Quadrilaterals
⚫ Other polygons with five or more sides.
Properties of Polygons
Sum of interior angles of a polygon = (n-2) x 180
Hence,
Sum `of interior angles of a triangle = (3-2) x 180 =
180
Sum of interior angles of a Quadrilateral = (4-2) x
180 = 360
Sum of interior angles of a Pentagon = (5-2) x 180 =
540
Sum of interior angles of a Hexagon = (6-2) x 180 =
720
Perimeter: Perimeter refers to the distance around
the polygon or the sum of the lengths of all the
sides.
Quadrilaterals
Parallelogram Rectangle Rhombus
Trapezium
Square
8
Areas
Area of triangle = (Base x Height) / 2
Where base = bottom side of the triangle
Height = line that is perpendicular to the
base
Area of Rectangle = (Length x Width)
Area
Area of a trapezoid = (Base1 + Base2) x Height / 2
Base2
Base1
Area of Parallelogram = Base x Height
Area
Area of a Rhombus = (Diagonal 1 x Diagonal
2)/2
Surface Area
Rectangular Solid
Surface area = Sum of the areas of ALL of the faces
Surface area of rectangular solid = 2(lb + bh + hl)
Surface area of cube = 6l2
Volume
Volume of a rectangular solid = Length x
Width x Height
Volume of a cube = (Length)3
Problems: Polygons
1. A pentagon has three sides with length x, and two sides with length
3x. If x is 2/3 inches, what is the perimeter of the pentagon.
2. 40% of James’s living room floor is covered by a carpet that is 4 feet
by 9 feet. What is the area of his living room floor.
3. If the perimeter of a rectangular flower bed is 30 feet and its area is
44 square feet, what is the length of each of its shorter sides.
4. ABCD is a rhombus. AEB is a right triangle. AB is 10 m. The ratio of
length of CE to the length of EB is 2 to 3. What is the area of trapezoid
AECD. A B
D C
5. If the length of an edge of cube A is one third the length of an edge
of cube B, what is the ratio of the volume of Cube A to volume of Cube
B.
Triangles
Angles of a triangle:
1. Sum of three angles of a triangle equals 180.
2. Angles correspond to their opposite side: Largest angle is opposite
the longest side, while smallest angle is opposite the shortest side. If
two sides are equal, their opposite angles are also equal (Isosceles
triangle)
Sides of a triangle:
1. Sum of any two sides of a triangle must be greater than the third
side
2. If you are given two sides of a triangle, the length of the third side
must lie between the difference and the sum of the two given sides.
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Triangles…
Pythagoras Theorem
a c
b
For a right angled triangle (one angle is 90 degrees),
a2+b2 = c2
Some common combinations:
3-4-5
6-8-10
12-16-20
5-12-13
8-15-17
Isosceles triangle
Isosceles triangle is one in which two sides are equal.
The two angles opposite to those sides would also
be equal.
The isosceles triangle tested most frequently on GRE
is the right angled isosceles triangle.
This triangle is also called 45-45-90 triangle and has
a ratio of sides 1:1: root 2
Equilateral triangle
Equilateral triangle is one in which all three sides are
equal. Each angle of an equilateral triangle is 60
degrees.
Closely related to equilateral triangle is the 30-60-90
triangle. The lengths of the legs for such triangle
have the following ratio:
30-60-90
1: √3:2
Exterior Angles of a Triangle
An exterior angle of a triangle is equal in measure to the sum of
two non-adjacent (opposite) interior angles of the triangle.
So, x = a + b b
a c x
Problems: Triangles
1. ABCD is a quadrilateral, with AB parallel to CD. E
is a point between C and D such that AE represents
the height of ABCD, and E is the midpoint of CD. If
AB is 4 inches long, AE is 5 inches long and the area
of triangle AED isA12.5B square inches, what is the
area of ABCD?
D C
E
2. Triangle A has a base of x and a height of 2x.
Triangle B is similar to Triangle A and has a base of
2x. What is the ratio of the area of triangle A to
Triangle B.
Problems: Triangles
3. What is measurement of angle x in the
following figure: A B
650
25 26
x0
900 900
C
7 10
4. The longest side of an isosceles right triangle
measures 20√2. What is the area of the triangle.
Problems: Triangles
5. In triangle ABC, AD = DB = DC. Given that
angle DCB is 600 and angle ACD is 200, what is
the measure of angle
A
x.
x0
200
600
B C
6. Two sides of a triangle are 4 and 10. If the
third side is an integer x, how many possible
values are there for x.
7. What is the area of an equilateral triangle
whose sides measure 8cm.
Circles Arc
Sector
Radius
Diameter
Chord
Circumference of a circle = 2∏r; Area of a circle = ∏ r 2
Arc Length:
Length = (1/6)(24 ∏) = 4 ∏ 600 12
Perimeter of the sector = 4 ∏ + 12+ 12 = 4 ∏ + 24
Area of a circle = ∏ r2 600 12
Area of sector = (1/6)(144 ∏) = 24 ∏
Inscribed angles
An inscribed angle has its vertex on the
Circle itself.
600
300
An inscribed angle is equal to half of
the arc it intercepts.
Inscribed triangles
An inscribed triangle has all the 3
Vertices on the circumference of the
circle. If one of the sides of an inscribed
Triangle is a diameter of the circle, then
the triangle must be a right triangle.
Cylinders
r
Surface area = 2∏rh + 2∏r2
h
Volume = ∏r2h
Problems: Circles and Cylinders
1. Triangle ABC is inscribed in a circle, such that
AC is a diameter of the circle. If AB has a length
of 8 and BC has length of 15, what is the
circumference of the circle.
2. Peter can run ∏ meters every 2 secs. If the
circular track has a radius of 75 m, how long
does it take Peter to run twice around the track.
3. A cylindrical water tank has a diameter of 14
m. and a height of 20 m. A water truck can fill ∏
cubic meters of tank every minute. How long
will it take the water truck to fill the water tank
from empty to half full.
Problems: Circles and Cylinders
4. BE and CD are both diameters of circle. If area of circle is 180
sq. cm, what is the area of sector ABC+ sector ADE.
B
C
400 A
5. Mary has to paint a cylindrical column 14 feet high, with a
circular base of radius 3 feet. If one bucket of paint covers
10∏ sq. feet, how many buckets does Mary need to buy in
order to paint the column, including the top and bottom.
6. A rectangular box has dimensions 12 inches * 10 inches * 8
inches. What is the largest possible volume of a cylinder that
will fit in.
Problems: Circles and Cylinders
7. If angle ABC is 400 and area of circle is 81∏, how long is arc
AXC.
A
C
400
B
8. Triangle ABC is inscribed in a circle, such that AC is a
diameter of the circle and angle BAC is 450. If the area of
triangle ABC is 84.5 square units, what is the length of arc BC
C
450
B A
Co-ordinate Geometry
Y - axis
II Quadrant 3 I Quadrant
2
1
X - axis
-4 -3 -2 -1 1 2 3 4
-1
-2
III Quadrant -3 . (2,-3) IV Quadrant
-4
The co-ordinate plane comprises the horizontal X-axis and the vertical
Y-axis. Points in this plane are identified by using an ordered pair of
Numbers. E.g. (2,-3)
Slope of a line
Y - axis
4
3
1 . (5,1)
X - axis
-4 -3 -2 -1 1 2 3 4
-1
-2
-3 . (2,-3)
-4
The slope of a line is defined as how much the line rises vertically
divided by how much the line runs horizontally.
Slope of a line = (y2-y1)/(x2-x1)
Slope of the above line = (1-(-3))/(5-2) = 4/3
The 4 types of Slopes
II I II I
III IV III IV
Positive Slope Negative Slope
II I II I
III IV III IV
Zero Slope Undefined Slope
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1. If the slope of a line is negative, the line WILL intersect quadrants II and IV.
2. If the slope of line is positive, line WILL intersect quadrants I and III.
Slopes of two lines
i) Slope of one line positive; slope of other line negative slope:
Positive slope is always bigger than negative slope.
l2
l1
ii) Slope of both lines positive:
θ2
θ1
θ2 > θ 1
=> Slope (l2) > Slope(l1)
l4 l3
θ4 θ3
iii) Slope of both lines negative:
θ3 > θ 4
=> Slope (l3) > Slope(l4)
Y - axis
8
7
ep
6
Lin
Line q
5
Lin
4
er
Li
3
ne
s
2
X - axis
-9 -8 -7 -6 -5 -4 -3 -2 -1 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
-1
-2
-3
Characteristics of Line p and Line q Characteristics of Line r and Line s
-4
1. Both p and q have a positive slope 1. Both r and s have a negative slope
-5
2. X-intercept of p (-7) is “lesser” than 2. X-intercept of r (9) is greater than
-6
X-intercept of q (-5) X-intercept of s (3)
-7
3. The slope of p is lesser than the slope of q 3. The slope of r (-2/3) is greater than the
-8 slope of s (-4/3)
Lines n and p lie in the xy-plane. Is the slope of line n less than the
slope of line p?
(1) Lines n and p intersect at point (5,1)
(2) They y-intercept of line n is greater than the y-intercept of line p.
Y - axis
n<p
Li
Slope of n is always 8
ne
n
lesser than slope of p Lin
e
7
p 6
5
Hence, C is the right Line 4
n
answer. 3
n<p 1
X - axis
-9 -8 -7 -6 -5 -4 -3 -2 -1 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
-1
-2
ep
Lin -3 n
e
Lin
-4
ep
-5
Lin
-6
-7
n<p
-8
Equation of a straight line
Y - axis
4
3 . (0,3)
2
1
(-2,0)
X - axis
-4 -3 -2 -1 1 2 3 4
-1
-2
-3
-4
All lines can be written in the form y = mx+c, where m represents the
slope of the line and c represents the y-intercept of the line.
For the above line,
m = (3-0)/(0-(-2)) = 3/2 = 1.5
c=3
So, equation of the line is: y = 1.5x+3
Intercepts of a line
Y - axis
4
3 . (0,3)
2
1
(-2,0)
X - axis
-4 -3 -2 -1 1 2 3 4
-1
-2
-3
-4
Point where a line intersects a co-ordinate axis is called an intercept.
There are two types of intercepts:
1. The x-intercept, where line intersects the x-axis => y=0
2. The y-intercept, where line intersects the y-axis => x=0
Horizontal and Vertical Lines
Y - axis
4
3
1
x=3
X - axis
-4 -3 -2 -1 1 2 3 4
-1
-2
-3
-4
y = -4
Distance between 2 points
Y - axis
4
3
1 . (5,1)
X - axis
-4 -3 -2 -1 1 2 3 4
-1
-2
-3 . (2,-3)
-4
By Pythagoras theorem, we can derive that the distance between
two points is
√{(y2-y1)2 + (x2-x1)2}
Problems: Co-ordinate Geometry
1. A line has equation y = 3x + 7. At which point will
this line intersect y-axis.
2. A line has a slope of 1/6 and intersects the x-axis at
(-24,0). Where does this line intersect the y-axis.
3. A line has a slope of ¾ and intersects the point
(-12,-39). At which point does this line intersect
x-axis.
4. Circle C and line k lie in the xy plane. If circle C is
centered at the origin and has a radius 1 , does the
line k intersect circle C ?
(1)The x intercept of the line k is greater than 1
(2)The slope of the line k is -1/10
1. A closed cylindrical tank contains 36π cubic feet of
water and is filled to half its capacity. When the
tank is placed upright on its circular base on level
ground, the height of the water in the tank is 4 feet.
When the tank is placed on its side on level
ground, what is the height, in feet, of the surface of
the water above the ground?
(A) 2 (B) 3 (C) 4 (D) 6 (E) 9
2.
In the figure shown, what is the value of v + x + y + z +
w?
3. A right circular cone is inscribed in a
hemisphere so that the base of the cone
coincides with the base of the hemisphere.
What is the ratio of the height of the cone to
the radius of the hemisphere?
(A) √3:1 B ) 1:1 (C) 1/2 :1 (D) √2:1 (E) 2:1
4.
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
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