Question ID ae05d37b

Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Math Advanced Math Nonlinear functions

ID: ae05d37b

The function gives the number of bacteria in a population minutes after an initial observation. How much
time, in minutes, does it take for the number of bacteria in the population to double?

A.

B.

C.

D.

ID: ae05d37b Answer

Correct Answer:
B
Rationale

Choice B is correct. It’s given that minutes after an initial observation, the number of bacteria in a population is .
This expression consists of the initial number of bacteria, , multiplied by the expression . The time, in minutes, it takes
for the number of bacteria to double is the increase in the value of that causes the expression to double. Since the base is ,
the expression will double when the exponent increases by . Since the exponent of this expression is , the exponent will
increase by when increases by . Therefore, the time, in minutes, it takes for the number of bacteria in the population to
double is .

Choice A is incorrect. This is the base of the exponent, not the time it takes for the number of bacteria in the population to double.

Choice C is incorrect. This is the number of minutes it takes for the population to double twice.

Choice D is incorrect. This is the number of bacteria that are initially observed, not the time it takes for the number of bacteria in
the population to double.

Question Difficulty:
Medium
Question ID 252a3b3a
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Math Advanced Math Nonlinear functions

ID: 252a3b3a

Which of the following could be the equation of the graph shown in the xy-plane?

A.

B.

C.

D.

ID: 252a3b3a Answer

Correct Answer:
B
Rationale
Choice B is correct. Each of the given choices is an equation of the form , where , , , and are
positive constants. In the xy-plane, the graph of an equation of this form has x-intercepts at , , and . The
graph shown has x-intercepts at , , and . Therefore, and . Of the given choices, only choices A
and B have and . For an equation in the form , if all values of that are less than
or greater than correspond to negative y-values, then the sum of all the exponents of the factors on the right-hand side of the
equation is even. In the graph shown, all values of less than or greater than correspond to negative y-values. Therefore, the
sum of all the exponents of the factors on the right-hand side of the equation must be even. For
choice A, the sum of these exponents is , or , which is odd. For choice B, the sum of these exponents is , or
, which is even. Therefore, could be the equation of the graph shown.

Choice A is incorrect. For the graph of this equation, all values of less than correspond to positive, not negative, y-values.

Choice C is incorrect. The graph of this equation has x-intercepts at , , and , rather than x-intercepts at
, , and .
Choice D is incorrect. The graph of this equation has x-intercepts at , , and , rather than x-intercepts at
, , and .

Question Difficulty:
Medium
Question ID cc6ccd71
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Math Advanced Math Nonlinear functions

ID: cc6ccd71

The graph of is shown, where the function is defined by and , , , and are
constants. For how many values of does ?

A. One

B. Two

C. Three

D. Four

ID: cc6ccd71 Answer

Correct Answer:
C
Rationale
Choice C is correct. If a value of satisfies , the graph of will contain a point and thus touch the x-axis.
Since there are points at which this graph touches the x-axis, there are values of for which .

Choice A is incorrect and may result from conceptual or calculation errors.

Choice B is incorrect and may result from conceptual or calculation errors.

Choice D is incorrect and may result from conceptual or calculation errors.

Question Difficulty:
Medium
Question ID 09d21d79
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Math Advanced Math Nonlinear functions

ID: 09d21d79

The graph of is shown, where and are constants. What is the value of ?

ID: 09d21d79 Answer

Correct Answer:
-24
Rationale
The correct answer is . Since the graph passes through the point , it follows that when the value of is , the value of
is . Substituting for and for in the given equation yields , or . Therefore, the value
of is . Substituting for in the given equation yields . Since the graph passes through the point
, it follows that when the value of is , the value of is . Substituting for and for in the equation
yields , or , which is equivalent to . Adding to
each side of this equation yields . Dividing each side of this equation by yields . Since the value of is and
the value of is , it follows that the value of is , or .

Alternate approach: The given equation represents a parabola in the xy-plane with a vertex at . Therefore, the given
equation, , which is written in standard form, can be written in vertex form, , where
is the vertex of the parabola and is the value of the coefficient on the term when the equation is written in standard form. It
follows that . Substituting for , for , and for in this equation yields , or
. Squaring the binomial on the right-hand side of this equation yields . Multiplying
each term inside the parentheses on the right-hand side of this equation by yields , which is equivalent
to . From the given equation , it follows that the value of is and the value of is .
Therefore, the value of is , or .

Question Difficulty:
Hard
Question ID 8e1da169
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Math Advanced Math Nonlinear functions

ID: 8e1da169

The function is defined by the given equation. For what value of does reach its minimum?

A.

B.

C.

D.

ID: 8e1da169 Answer

Correct Answer:
B
Rationale
Choice B is correct. It's given that , which can be rewritten as . Since the
coefficient of the -term is positive, the graph of in the xy-plane opens upward and reaches its minimum value at its
vertex. For an equation in the form , where , , and are constants, the x-coordinate of the vertex is .
For the equation , , , and . It follows that the x-coordinate of the vertex is
, or . Therefore, reaches its minimum when the value of is .

Choice A is incorrect. This is one of the x-coordinates of the x-intercepts of the graph of in the xy-plane.

Choice C is incorrect. This is one of the x-coordinates of the x-intercepts of the graph of in the xy-plane.

Choice D is incorrect. This is the y-coordinate of the vertex of the graph of in the xy-plane.

Question Difficulty:
Hard
Question ID 6d9e01a2
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Math Advanced Math Nonlinear functions

ID: 6d9e01a2

The given equation defines the function . For what value of does reach its minimum?

ID: 6d9e01a2 Answer

Correct Answer:
25/4, 6.25
Rationale
The correct answer is . The given equation can be rewritten in the form , where , , and are
constants. When , is the value of for which reaches its minimum. The given equation can be rewritten as
, which is equivalent to . This equation can be

rewritten as , or , which is equivalent to

. Therefore, , so the value of for which reaches its minimum is . Note that 25/4 and
6.25 are examples of ways to enter a correct answer.

Question Difficulty:
Hard
Question ID 6e7ae9fc
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Math Advanced Math Nonlinear functions

ID: 6e7ae9fc

The function is defined by . The value of is , where is a constant. What is the sum of all
possible values of ?

ID: 6e7ae9fc Answer

Correct Answer:
25
Rationale
The correct answer is . The value of is the value of when , where is a constant. Substituting
for in the given equation yields , which is equivalent to
. It’s given that the value of is . Substituting for in the equation
yields . Since the product of the three factors on the
right-hand side of this equation is equal to , at least one of these three factors must be equal to . Therefore, the possible values
of can be found by setting each factor equal to . Setting the first factor equal to yields . Adding to both sides of
this equation yields . Therefore, is one possible value of . Setting the second factor equal to yields . Adding
to both sides of this equation yields . Therefore, is a second possible value of . Setting the third factor equal to
yields . Taking the square root of both sides of this equation yields . Adding to both sides of this
equation yields . Therefore, is a third possible value of . Adding the three possible values of yields , or
. Therefore, the sum of all possible values of is .

Question Difficulty:
Hard
Question ID a5663025
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Math Advanced Math Nonlinear equations

in one variable and
systems of equations
in two variables

ID: a5663025

A system of equations consists of a quadratic equation and a linear equation. The

equations in this system are graphed in the xy-plane above. How many solutions does
this system have?

A. 0

B. 1

C. 2

D. 3

ID: a5663025 Answer

Correct Answer:
C
Rationale
Choice C is correct. The solutions to a system of two equations correspond to points where the graphs of the equations intersect.
The given graphs intersect at 2 points; therefore, the system has 2 solutions.

Choice A is incorrect because the graphs intersect. Choice B is incorrect because the graphs intersect more than once. Choice D
is incorrect. It’s not possible for the graph of a quadratic equation and the graph of a linear equation to intersect more than twice.

Question Difficulty:
Medium
Question ID d0a7871e
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Math Advanced Math Nonlinear equations

in one variable and
systems of equations
in two variables

ID: d0a7871e

If is a solution to the system of equations above, which of the

following could be the value of x ?

A. –1

B. 0

C. 2

D. 3

ID: d0a7871e Answer

Correct Answer:
A
Rationale
Choice A is correct. It is given that y = x + 1 and y = x2 + x. Setting the values for y equal to each other yields x + 1 = x2 + x.
Subtracting x from each side of this equation yields x2 = 1. Therefore, x can equal 1 or –1. Of these, only –1 is given as a choice.

Choice B is incorrect. If x = 0, then x + 1 = 1, but x2 + x = 02 + 0 = 0 ≠︀1. Choice C is incorrect. If x = 2, then x + 1 = 3, but x2 + x = 22

+ 2 = 6 ≠︀3. Choice D is incorrect. If x = 3, then x + 1 = 4, but x2 + x = 32 + 3 = 12 ≠︀4.

Question Difficulty:
Medium
Question ID b4acba95
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Math Advanced Math Nonlinear equations

in one variable and
systems of equations
in two variables

ID: b4acba95

How many distinct real solutions does the given equation have?

A. Exactly two

B. Exactly one

C. Zero

D. Infinitely many

ID: b4acba95 Answer

Correct Answer:
A
Rationale
Choice A is correct. The number of solutions of a quadratic equation of the form , where , , and are
constants, can be determined by the value of the discriminant, . If the value of the discriminant is positive, then the
quadratic equation has exactly two distinct real solutions. If the value of the discriminant is equal to zero, then the quadratic
equation has exactly one real solution. If the value of the discriminant is negative, then the quadratic equation has zero real
solutions. In the given equation, , , , and . Substituting these values for , , and in
yields , or . Since the value of its discriminant is positive, the given equation has exactly two
distinct real solutions.

Choice B is incorrect and may result from conceptual or calculation errors.

Choice C is incorrect and may result from conceptual or calculation errors.

Choice D is incorrect and may result from conceptual or calculation errors.

Question Difficulty:
Medium
Question ID 11ccf3e1
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Math Advanced Math Nonlinear equations

in one variable and
systems of equations
in two variables

ID: 11ccf3e1

The given equation relates the numbers , , and . Which equation correctly expresses in terms of and ?

A.

B.

C.

D.

ID: 11ccf3e1 Answer

Correct Answer:
A
Rationale
Choice A is correct. Subtracting from each side of the given equation results in . Dividing each side of this
equation by results in .

Choice B is incorrect and may result from conceptual or calculation errors.

Choice C is incorrect and may result from conceptual or calculation errors.

Choice D is incorrect and may result from conceptual or calculation errors.

Question Difficulty:
Medium
Question ID 13e57f0a
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Math Advanced Math Nonlinear equations

in one variable and
systems of equations
in two variables

ID: 13e57f0a

What is the positive solution to the given equation?

A.

B.

C.

D.

ID: 13e57f0a Answer

Correct Answer:
B
Rationale
Choice B is correct. Multiplying each side of the given equation by yields . To complete the square,
adding to each side of this equation yields , or . Taking the square root of
each side of this equation yields two equations: and . Subtracting from each side of the equation
yields . Dividing each side of this equation by yields , or . Therefore, is a solution to the
given equation. Subtracting from each side of the equation yields . Dividing each side of this
equation by yields . Therefore, the given equation has two solutions, and . Since is positive, it follows that is
the positive solution to the given equation.

Alternate approach: Adding and to each side of the given equation yields . The right-hand side of this
equation can be rewritten as . Factoring out the common factor of from the first two terms of this
expression and the common factor of from the second two terms yields . Factoring out the common
factor of from these two terms yields the expression . Since this expression is equal to , it follows that
either or . Adding to each side of the equation yields . Dividing each side of this
equation by yields . Therefore, is a positive solution to the given equation. Subtracting from each side of the equation
yields . Therefore, the given equation has two solutions, and . Since is positive, it follows that is the
positive solution to the given equation.

Choice A is incorrect. Substituting for in the given equation yields , which is false.

Choice C is incorrect. Substituting for in the given equation yields , which is false.

Choice D is incorrect. Substituting for in the given equation yields , which is false.

Question Difficulty:
Medium
Question ID d0a53ef5
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Math Advanced Math Nonlinear equations

in one variable and
systems of equations
in two variables

ID: d0a53ef5

What is the smallest solution to the given equation?

ID: d0a53ef5 Answer

Correct Answer:
-3
Rationale
The correct answer is . Squaring both sides of the given equation yields , which can be rewritten as
. Subtracting and from both sides of this equation yields . This quadratic
equation can be rewritten as . According to the zero product property, equals zero when
either or . Solving each of these equations for yields or . Therefore, the given equation
has two solutions, and . Of these two solutions, is the smallest solution to the given equation.

Question Difficulty:
Hard
Question ID ebb717ab
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Math Advanced Math Nonlinear equations

in one variable and
systems of equations
in two variables

ID: ebb717ab

In the given equation, is a constant. The equation has no real solutions if . What is the least possible value of ?

ID: ebb717ab Answer

Correct Answer:
289
Rationale
The correct answer is . A quadratic equation of the form , where , , and are constants, has no real
solutions when the value of the discriminant, , is less than . In the given equation, , and
. Therefore, the discriminant of the given equation can be expressed as , or . It follows
that the given equation has no real solutions when . Adding to both sides of this inequality yields .
Dividing both sides of this inequality by yields , or . It's given that the equation has no real
solutions when . Therefore, the least possible value of is .

Question Difficulty:
Hard
Question ID b03adde3
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Math Advanced Math Nonlinear equations

in one variable and
systems of equations
in two variables

ID: b03adde3

If , what is t
in terms of u ?

A.

B.

C.

D.

ID: b03adde3 Answer

Correct Answer:
D
Rationale
Choice D is correct. Multiplying both sides of the given equation by yields . Dividing both sides of this

equation by yields . Adding 2 to both sides of this equation yields , which can be rewritten as

. Since the fractions on the right-hand side of this equation have a common denominator, adding the

fractions yields . Applying the distributive property to the numerator on the right-hand side of this equation yields

, which is equivalent to .

Choices A, B, and C are incorrect and may result from various misconceptions or miscalculations.

Question Difficulty:
Hard
Question ID 104bff62
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Math Advanced Math Nonlinear equations

in one variable and
systems of equations
in two variables

ID: 104bff62

In the given equation, is a positive constant. Which of the following is one of the solutions to the given equation?

A.

B.

C.

D.

ID: 104bff62 Answer

Correct Answer:
D
Rationale
Choice D is correct. If , then neither side of the given equation is defined and there can be no solution. Therefore,
. Subtracting from both sides of the given equation yields , or .

Squaring both sides of this equation yields , or . Since is positive and, therefore,

nonzero, the expression is defined and equivalent to . It follows that the equation can be rewritten
as , or , which is equivalent to . Adding to both sides of this

equation yields . Taking the square root of both sides of this equation yields two solutions: and
. Therefore, of the given choices, is one of the solutions to the given equation.

Choice A is incorrect and may result from conceptual or calculation errors.

Choice B is incorrect and may result from conceptual or calculation errors.

Choice C is incorrect and may result from conceptual or calculation errors.

Question Difficulty:
Hard
Question ID 52931bfa
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Math Advanced Math Equivalent

expressions

ID: 52931bfa

Which expression is equivalent to , where ?

A.

B.

C.

D.

ID: 52931bfa Answer

Correct Answer:
B
Rationale
Choice B is correct. The given expression has a common factor of in the denominator, so the expression can be rewritten as
. The three terms in this expression have a common factor of . Since it's given that , can't be equal
to , which means can't be equal to . Therefore, each term in the expression, , can be divided by ,
which gives .

Choice A is incorrect and may result from conceptual or calculation errors.

Choice C is incorrect and may result from conceptual or calculation errors.

Choice D is incorrect and may result from conceptual or calculation errors.

Question Difficulty:
Medium
Question ID 42c71eb5
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Math Advanced Math Equivalent

expressions

ID: 42c71eb5

Which of the following is equivalent to

the expression above?

A.

B.

C.

D.

ID: 42c71eb5 Answer

Correct Answer:
A
Rationale

Choice A is correct. The given expression can be rewritten as . Applying the distributive
property, the expression can be rewritten as , or .

Adding like terms yields . Substituting for in the given expression yields . By

the rules of exponents, the expression is equivalent to . Applying the distributive property, this

expression can be rewritten as , or . Adding like terms gives

. Substituting for in the rewritten expression yields , and adding like terms yields

Choices B, C, and D are incorrect. Choices C and D may result from rewriting the expression as , instead of as

. Choices B and C may result from rewriting the expression as , instead of .

Question Difficulty:
Medium
Question ID b4a6ed81
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Math Advanced Math Equivalent

expressions

ID: b4a6ed81

The expression is equivalent to , where is a constant. What is the value of ?

ID: b4a6ed81 Answer

Correct Answer:
6
Rationale
The correct answer is . Applying the distributive property to the expression yields . Since
is equivalent to , it follows that is also equivalent to . Since these
expressions are equivalent, it follows that corresponding coefficients are equivalent. Therefore, and .
Solving either of these equations for will yield the value of . Dividing both sides of by yields . Therefore, the
value of is .

Question Difficulty:
Medium
Question ID a520ba07
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Math Advanced Math Equivalent

expressions

ID: a520ba07

Which of the following expressions is equivalent

to the expression above?

A.

B.

C.

D.

ID: a520ba07 Answer

Correct Answer:
B
Rationale

Choice B is correct. One of the properties of radicals is . Thus, the given expression can be rewritten as

. Simplifying by taking the cube root of each part gives x1 ⋅ y2, or xy2.

Choices A, C, and D are incorrect and may be the result of incorrect application of the properties of exponents and radicals.

Question Difficulty:
Medium
Question ID 433184f1
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Math Advanced Math Equivalent

expressions

ID: 433184f1

Which expression is equivalent to ?

A.

B.

C.

D.

ID: 433184f1 Answer

Correct Answer:
D
Rationale

Choice D is correct. The expression can be rewritten as . To add the two terms of this expression, the
terms can be rewritten with a common denominator. Since , the expression can be rewritten as . Since
, the expression can be rewritten as . Therefore, the expression can be rewritten as
, which is equivalent to . Applying the distributive property to each term of the
numerator yields , or . Adding like terms in the numerator yields .

Choice A is incorrect and may result from conceptual or calculation errors.

Choice B is incorrect and may result from conceptual or calculation errors.

Choice C is incorrect and may result from conceptual or calculation errors.

Question Difficulty:
Hard
Question ID 22fd3e1f
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Math Advanced Math Equivalent

expressions

ID: 22fd3e1f

Which of the following expressions is

equivalent to , for ?

A.

B.

C.

D.

ID: 22fd3e1f Answer

Correct Answer:
D
Rationale

Choice D is correct. Since and , the fraction can be written as

. It is given that , so the common factor is not equal to 0. Therefore, the fraction can be further

simplified to .

Choice A is incorrect. The expression is not equivalent to because at , as a value of 1 and has a
value of 0.

Choice B is incorrect and results from omitting the factor x in the factorization of . Choice C is incorrect and may result from

incorrectly factoring as instead of .

Question Difficulty:
Hard
Question ID ad038c19
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Math Advanced Math Equivalent

expressions

ID: ad038c19

Which of the following is

equivalent to ?

A.

B.

C.

D.

ID: ad038c19 Answer

Correct Answer:
D
Rationale

Choice D is correct. The expression can be rewritten as . Using the distributive property, the

expression yields . Combining like terms gives .

Choices A, B, and C are incorrect and may result from errors using the distributive property on the given expression or combining
like terms.

Question Difficulty:
Hard
Question ID 911c415b
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Math Advanced Math Equivalent

expressions

ID: 911c415b

The expression above can be written in the form , where a and b are
constants. What is the value of ?

ID: 911c415b Answer

Rationale

The correct answer is 6632. Applying the distributive property to the expression yields . Then

adding together and and collecting like terms results in . This is written in the form

, where and . Therefore .

Question Difficulty:
Hard