SAT Geometry Problem Set Analysis
SAT Geometry Problem Set Analysis
ID: 6d99b141
In the figure, . The measure of angle is , and the measure of angle is . What is the
value of ?
Rationale
The correct answer is . It's given that in the figure, . Thus, triangle is an isosceles triangle and the
measure of angle is equal to the measure of angle . The sum of the measures of the interior angles of a
triangle is . Thus, the sum of the measures of the interior angles of triangle is . It's given that the
measure of angle is . It follows that the sum of the measures of angles and is ,
or . Since the measure of angle is equal to the measure of angle , the measure of angle is half of
, or . The sum of the measures of the interior angles of triangle is . It's given that the measure of
angle is . Since the measure of angle , which is the same angle as angle , is , it follows that
the measure of angle is , or . Since angle and angle form a straight line, the
sum of the measures of these angles is . It's given in the figure that the measure of angle is . It follows
that . Subtracting from both sides of this equation yields .
ID: e10d8313
In the figure shown, points , , , and lie on line segment , and line segment intersects line segment at
point . The measure of is , the measure of is , the measure of is , and the
measure of is . What is the measure, in degrees, of ?
Rationale
The correct answer is . The triangle angle sum theorem states that the sum of the measures of the interior angles of
a triangle is degrees. It's given that the measure of is and the measure of is . Since points
, , and form a triangle, it follows from the triangle angle sum theorem that the measure, in degrees, of is
, or . It's also given that the measure of is . Since and are
supplementary angles, the sum of their measures is degrees. It follows that the measure, in degrees, of is
, or . Since points , , and form a triangle, and is the same angle as , it follows from
the triangle angle sum theorem that the measure, in degrees, of is , or . It's given that the
measure of is . Since and are supplementary angles, the sum of their measures is
degrees. It follows that the measure, in degrees, of is , or . Since points , , and form a
triangle, and is the same angle as , it follows from the triangle angle sum theorem that the measure, in
degrees, of is , or .
ID: f88f27e5
Intersecting lines r, s, and t are shown below.
Rationale
The correct answer is 97. The intersecting lines form a triangle, and the angle with measure of is an exterior angle of
this triangle. The measure of an exterior angle of a triangle is equal to the sum of the measures of the two nonadjacent
interior angles of the triangle. One of these angles has measure of and the other, which is supplementary to the
angle with measure , has measure of . Therefore, the value of x is .
ID: 947a3cde
Rationale
The correct answer is 30. It is given that the measure of is . Angle MPR and are collinear and
therefore are supplementary angles. This means that the sum of the two angle measures is , and so the measure
of is . The sum of the angles in a triangle is . Subtracting the measure of from yields
the sum of the other angles in the triangle MPR. Since , the sum of the measures of and
is . It is given that , so it follows that triangle MPR is isosceles. Therefore and
must be congruent. Since the sum of the measure of these two angles is , it follows that the measure of each angle
is .
An alternate approach would be to use the exterior angle theorem, noting that the measure of is equal to the
sum of the measures of and . Since both angles are equal, each of them has a measure of .
ID: a0369739
In triangle , the measure of angle is and is an altitude of the triangle. The length of is and the
length of is greater than the length of . What is the value of ?
A.
B.
C.
D.
Rationale
Choice D is correct. It's given that in triangle , the measure of angle is and is an altitude of the triangle.
Therefore, the measure of angle is . It follows that angle is congruent to angle and angle is congruent
to angle . By the angle-angle similarity postulate, triangle is similar to triangle . Since triangles and
are similar, it follows that . It's also given that the length of is and the length of is
greater than the length of . Therefore, the length of is , or . Substituting for and for in
the equation yields . Therefore, the value of is .
Choice A is incorrect. This is the value of . Choice B is incorrect and may result from conceptual or calculation errors.
ID: 2d2cb85e
In the figure, , the measure of angle is , and the measure of angle is . What is the value of
?
Rationale
The correct answer is . In the figure shown, the sum of the measures of angle and angle is . It’s
given that the measure of angle is . Therefore, the measure of angle is , or . The sum
of the measures of the interior angles of a triangle is . In triangle , the measure of angle is and it's
given that the measure of angle is . Thus, the measure of angle is , or . It’s given
that . Therefore, triangle is an isosceles triangle and the measure of is equal to the measure of
angle . In triangle , the measure of angle is and the measure of angle is . Thus, the
measure of angle is , or . The figure shows that the measure of angle is , so the
value of is .
ID: 901c3215
In triangles and , angles and each have measure and angles and each have measure .
Which additional piece of information is sufficient to determine whether triangle is congruent to triangle ?
Rationale
Choice C is correct. Since angles and each have the same measure and angles and each have the same
measure, triangles and are similar, where side corresponds to side . To determine whether two
similar triangles are congruent, it is sufficient to determine whether one pair of corresponding sides are congruent.
Therefore, to determine whether triangles and are congruent, it is sufficient to determine whether sides
and have equal length. Thus, the lengths of and are sufficient to determine whether triangle is
congruent to triangle .
Choice A is incorrect and may result from conceptual errors. Choice B is incorrect and may result from conceptual errors.
Choice D is incorrect. The given information is sufficient to determine that triangles and are similar, but not
whether they are congruent.
ID: 345cc36a
Rationale
The correct answer is . The figure shown includes two triangles, triangle and triangle , such that angle
and angle are vertical angles. It follows that angle is congruent to angle . It’s also given in
the figure that the measures of angle and angle are . Therefore angle is congruent to angle . Since triangle
and triangle have two pairs of congruent angles, triangle is similar to triangle by the angle-
angle similarity postulate, where corresponds to , and corresponds to . Since the lengths of
corresponding sides in similar triangles are proportional, it follows that . It’s given that ,
, and . Substituting for , for , and for in the equation yields
. Multiplying each side of this equation by yields , or . Therefore, the length of
is .
ID: f7dbde16
In triangles and , angles and each have measure , , and . Which additional
piece of information is sufficient to prove that triangle is similar to triangle ?
A. and
B. and
Rationale
Choice D is correct. Two triangles are similar if they have three pairs of congruent corresponding angles. It’s given that
angles and each measure , and so these corresponding angles are congruent. If angle is , then angle
must be so that the sum of the angles in triangle is . If angle is , then angle must be so
that the sum of the angles in triangle is . Therefore, if the measures of angles and are and ,
respectively, then corresponding angles and are both , and corresponding angles and are both . It
follows that triangles and have three pairs of congruent corresponding angles, and so the triangles are
similar. Therefore, the additional piece of information that is sufficient to prove that triangle is similar to triangle
is that the measures of angles and are and , respectively.
Choice A is incorrect. If the measures of two sides in one triangle are proportional to the corresponding sides in another
triangle and the included angles are congruent, then the triangles are similar. However, the two sides given are not
proportional and the angle given is not included by the given sides.
Choice B is incorrect. If the measures of two sides in one triangle are proportional to the corresponding sides in another
triangle and the included angles are congruent, then the triangles are similar. However, the angle given is not included
between the proportional sides.
ID: b1e1c2f5
In right triangle , angle is the right angle and . Point on side is connected by a line segment
with point on side such that line segment is parallel to side and . What is the length of line
segment ?
Rationale
The correct answer is . It’s given that in triangle , point on side is connected by a line segment with point
on side such that line segment is parallel to side . It follows that parallel segments and are
intersected by sides and . If two parallel segments are intersected by a third segment, corresponding angles are
congruent. Thus, corresponding angles and are congruent and corresponding angles and are
congruent. Since triangle has two angles that are each congruent to an angle in triangle , triangle is
similar to triangle by the angle-angle similarity postulate, where side corresponds to side , and side
corresponds to side . Since the lengths of corresponding sides in similar triangles are proportional, it follows that
. Since point lies on side , . It's given that . Substituting for
in the equation yields , or . It’s given that . Substituting
for and for in the equation yields , or . Multiplying both sides of
this equation by yields . Thus, the length of line segment is .
ID: 740bf79f
A. 2.2
B. 2.3
C. 2.4
D. 2.5
Rationale
Choice C is correct. First, is the hypotenuse of right , whose legs have lengths 3 and 4. Therefore,
constant, so . Since and it’s given that and , . Solving for NQ results in
, or 2.4.
Choices A, B, and D are incorrect and may result from setting up incorrect ratios.
ID: 3b225698
Triangle is similar to triangle such that , , and correspond to , , and , respectively. The measure
of is and . What is the measure of ?
A.
B.
C.
D.
Rationale
Choice C is correct. It’s given that triangle is similar to triangle , such that , , and correspond to , ,
and , respectively. Since corresponding angles of similar triangles are congruent, it follows that the measure of is
congruent to the measure of . It’s given that the measure of is . Therefore, the measure of is .
Choice A is incorrect and may result from a conceptual error. Choice B is incorrect. This is half the measure of .
ID: bd7f6e30
A. 72
B. 66
C. 64
D. 58
Rationale
Choice C is correct. Since , it follows that is an isosceles triangle with base RU. Therefore,
and are the base angles of an isosceles triangle and are congruent. Let the measures of both and
be . According to the triangle sum theorem, the sum of the measures of the three angles of a triangle is .
Therefore, , so .
Note that is the same angle as . Thus, the measure of is . According to the triangle exterior
angle theorem, an external angle of a triangle is equal to the sum of the opposite interior angles. Therefore, is equal
to the sum of the measures of and ; that is, . Thus, the value of x is 64.
Choice B is incorrect. This is the measure of , but is not congruent to . Choices A and D are
incorrect and may result from a calculation error.
ID: eeb4143c
The area of triangle ABC above is at least 48 but no more than 60. If y is an
integer, what is one possible value of x ?
Rationale
The correct answer is either , , or . The area of triangle ABC can be expressed as or . It’s
given that the area of triangle ABC is at least 48 but no more than 60. It follows that . Dividing by 6 to
isolate y in this compound inequality yields . Since y is an integer, . In the given figure, the two
right triangles shown are similar because they have two pairs of congruent angles: their respective right angles and angle
A. Therefore, the following proportion is true: . Substituting 8 for y in the proportion results in . Cross
multiplying and solving for x yields . Substituting 9 for y in the proportion results in . Cross multiplying and
solving for x yields . Substituting 10 for y in the proportion results in . Cross multiplying and solving for x
yields . Note that 10/3, 15/4, 25/6, 3.333, 3.75, 4.166, and 4.167 are examples of ways to enter a correct answer.
ID: 48fb6483
In triangle , angle is a right angle, point lies on , and point lies on such that is parallel to .
If the measure of angle is , what is the measure, in degrees, of angle ?
Rationale
The correct answer is . Since it's given that is parallel to and angle is a right angle, angle is also a
right angle. Angle is complementary to angle , which means its measure, in degrees, is , or .
Since angle is supplementary to angle , its measure, in degrees, is , or .
ID: 010243e6
Triangles and are graphed in the xy-plane. Triangle has vertices , , and at , , and
, respectively. Triangle has vertices , , and at , , and , respectively, where
is a positive constant. If the measure of is , what is the measure of ?
A.
B.
C.
D.
Rationale
Choice C is correct. Since and , side is parallel to the y-axis and has a length of . Since
and , side is parallel to the x-axis and has a length of . Therefore, triangle is a right
isosceles triangle, where has measure and and each have measure . It follows that if the measure
of is , then . Since and , side is parallel to the y-axis and has a length of
. Since and , side is parallel to the x-axis and has a length of . Therefore,
triangle is a right isosceles triangle, where has measure and and each have measure . Of
the given choices, only is equal to , so the measure of is .
ID: 5b4757df
In triangle , angle is a right angle, point lies on , point lies on , and is parallel to . If the length
of is units, the length of is units, and the area of triangle is square units, what is the length of
, in units?
Rationale
The correct answer is . It's given that in triangle , angle is a right angle. The area of a right triangle can be
found using the formula 𝓁 𝓁 , where represents the area of the right triangle, 𝓁 represents the length of one
leg of the triangle, and 𝓁 represents the length of the other leg of the triangle. In triangle , the two legs are and
. Therefore, if the length of is and the area of triangle is , then , or
. Dividing both sides of this equation by yields . Therefore, the length of is . It's also
given that point lies on , point lies on , and is parallel to . It follows that angle is a right angle.
Since triangles and share angle and have right angles and , respectively, triangles and
are similar triangles. Therefore, the ratio of the length of to the length of is equal to the ratio of the length of
to the length of . If the length of is and the length of is , it follows that the ratio of the length of to
the length of is , or , so the ratio of the length of to the length of is . Therefore, . Multiplying
both sides of this equation by yields . Dividing both sides of this equation by yields .
Since the length of , , is the sum of the length of , , and the length of , it follows that the length of is
, or . Note that 44/3, 14.66, and 14.67 are examples of ways to enter a correct answer.
ID: adae6543
In the figure, intersects at point , and is parallel to . The lengths of , , and are , , and
, respectively. What is the length of ?
A.
B.
C.
D.
ID: f731d88b
In convex pentagon , segment is parallel to segment . The measure of angle is degrees, and
the measure of angle is degrees. What is the measure, in degrees, of angle ?
Rationale
The correct answer is . It's given that the measure of angle is degrees. Therefore, the exterior angle formed by
extending segment at point has measure , or , degrees. It's given that segment is parallel to
segment . Extending segment at point and extending segment at point until the two segments
intersect results in a transversal that intersects two parallel line segments. One of these intersection points is point ,
and let the other intersection point be point . Since segment is parallel to segment , alternate interior angles
are congruent. Angle and the exterior angle formed by extending segment at point are alternate interior
angles. Therefore, the measure of angle is degrees. It's given that the measure of angle in pentagon
is degrees. Therefore, angle has measure , or , degrees. Since angle in pentagon
is an exterior angle of triangle , it follows that the measure of angle is the sum of the measures of
angles and . Therefore, the measure, in degrees, of angle is , or .
Alternate approach: A line can be created that's perpendicular to segments and and passes through point .
Extending segments and at points and , respectively, until they intersect this line yields two right triangles.
Let these intersection points be point and point , and the two right triangles be triangle and triangle .
It's given that the measure of angle is degrees. Therefore, angle has measure , or , degrees.
Since the measure of angle is degrees and the measure of angle is degrees, it follows that the
measure of angle is , or , degrees. It's given that the measure of angle is degrees.
Therefore, angle has measure , or , degrees. Since the measure of angle is degrees and the
measure of angle is degrees, it follows that the measure of angle is , or , degrees.
Since angles , , and angle in pentagon form segment , it follows that the sum of the
measures of those angles is degrees. Therefore, the measure, in degrees, of angle is , or .
ID: 17912810
In the figure, parallel lines and are intersected by lines and . If and , what is the value of ?
Rationale
The correct answer is . In the figure, lines , , and form a triangle. One interior angle of this triangle is vertical to
the angle marked ; therefore, the interior angle also has measure . It's given that . Therefore, the interior
angle of the triangle has measure . A second interior angle of the triangle forms a straight line, , with the angle
marked . Therefore, the sum of the measures of these two angles is . It's given that . Therefore, the angle
marked has measure and the second interior angle of the triangle has measure , or . The sum
of the interior angles of a triangle is . Therefore, the measure of the third interior angle of the triangle is
, or . It's given that parallel lines and are intersected by line . It follows that the triangle's
interior angle with measure is congruent to the same side interior angle between lines and formed by lines and
. Since this angle is supplementary to the two angles marked , the sum of , , and is . It follows that
, or . Subtracting from both sides of this equation yields . Dividing
both sides of this equation by yields . Note that 101/2 and 50.5 are examples of ways to enter a correct
answer.
ID: 694b7fce
In the figure shown, units, units, and units. What is the area, in square units, of triangle
?
Rationale
The correct answer is . It's given in the figure that angle and angle are right angles. It follows that angle
is congruent to angle . It's also given that angle and angle are the same angle. It follows that
angle is congruent to angle . Since triangles and have two pairs of congruent angles, the
triangles are similar. Sides and in triangle correspond to sides and , respectively, in triangle
. Corresponding sides in similar triangles are proportional. Therefore, . It's given that units
and units. Therefore, units. It’s also given that units. Substituting for , for
, and for in the equation yields , or . Multiplying each side of this equation by
yields . By the Pythagorean theorem, if a right triangle has a hypotenuse with length and legs with
lengths and , then . Since triangle is a right triangle, it follows that represents the length of
the hypotenuse, , and and represent the lengths of the legs, and . Substituting for and for in
ID: 6a3fbec3
Rationale
The correct answer is 4.5. According to the properties of right triangles, BD divides triangle ABC into two similar triangles,
ABD and BCD. The corresponding sides of ABD and BCD are proportional, so the ratio of BD to AD is the same as the ratio
of DC to BD. Expressing this information as a proportion gives . Solving the proportion for DC results in
. Note that 4.5 and 9/2 are examples of ways to enter a correct answer.
ID: f67255ea
A line intersects two parallel lines, forming four acute angles and four obtuse angles. The measure of one of the acute
angles is . The sum of the measures of one of the acute angles and three of the obtuse angles is
. What is the value of ?
Rationale
The correct answer is . It’s given that a line intersects two parallel lines, forming four acute angles and four obtuse
angles. When two parallel lines are intersected by a transversal line, the angles formed have the following properties: two
adjacent angles are supplementary, and alternate interior angles are congruent. Therefore, each of the four acute angles
have the same measure, and each of the four obtuse angles have the same measure. It’s also given that the measure of
one of the acute angles is . If two angles are supplementary, then the sum of their measures is .
Therefore, the measure of the obtuse angle adjacent to any of the acute angles is , or
, which is equivalent to . It’s given that the sum of the measures of one of the acute
angles and three of the obtuse angles is . It follows that ,
which is equivalent to , or . Adding to both
sides of this equation yields .