ALGEBRA

 What about multiplying or dividing an inequality by a variable? The

short answer is…try not to do it! The issue is that you don't know the
sign of the “hidden number” that the variable represents. If the variable
logically can't be negative (e.g., it counts people or measures a length),
then you can go ahead and multiply or divide. If the problem is a
Quantitative Comparison, consider whether not knowing the sign of the
variable you want to multiply or divide by means that the answer is (D)
 DO use extreme values to solve inequality range problems, problems
containing both inequalities and equations, and many optimization
problems
 DO set terms with even exponents equal to 0 when trying
to solve minimization problems.
 DON'T multiply or divide an
inequality by a variable unless
you know the sign of the variable.
 If each number in a sequence is three more than the previous number,
and the sixth number is 32, what is the 100th number?
Instead of finding the rule for this sequence, consider the following
reasoning:
From the sixth term to the one hundredth term excluding the 6th term,
there are 94 “jumps” of 3. Since 94 × 3 = 282, there is an increase of
282 from the sixth term to the one hundredth term:
32 + 282 = 314

FDP

 Multiplying a number by a fraction between 0 and 1 creates a

product smaller than the original number. Note that this is also true
when the original number is a fraction

 Try to make your rounding errors partially cancel each other out by
rounding some numbers up and others down.
 In summary, do pick Smart Numbers when no amounts are given in
the problem, but do not pick Smart Numbers when any amount or
total is given!
 452, the digit 2 is in the ones (or “units”) place, the digit 5 is in the
tens place, and the digit 4 is in the hundreds place. The name of each
location corresponds to the “value” of that place.
 Notice that the place values to the left of the decimal all end in “-s,”
while the place values to the right of the decimal all end in “-ths.”
This is because the suffix “-ths” gives these places (to the right of
the decimal) a fractional value.


 The fastest way to success with GRE percent problems with
unspecified amounts is to pick 100 as a value. (Note that, as you
saw in the fractions chapter, if any amounts are specified, you
cannot pick numbers—you must solve the problem algebraically.)


GEOMETRY

 One reason that the 45–45–90 triangle is so important is that this
triangle is exactly half of a square! That is, two 45–45–90 triangles
put together make up a square. Thus, if you are given the diagonal of
a square, you can use the 45–45– 90 ratio to find the length of a side
of the square
 The main diagonal of a cube can be found using the formula d =
s(root 3) , where s is an edge of the cube.


 This is a general rule: Of all quadrilaterals with a given
perimeter, the square has the largest area.
 Of all quadrilaterals with a given area, the square has the
minimum perimeter.
 If you are given two sides of a triangle or parallelogram, you can
maximize the area by placing those two sides
PERPENDICULAR to each other


NUMBER PROPERTIES


 Prime factors provide essential information about a number or
variable. They are the fundamental building blocks of every number.
In order for a number or variable to be divisible by another number,
it must contain all the same prime factors that the other number
contains.
 Any integer only has a limited number of factors. For example, there
are only four factors of 8: 1, 2, 4, and 8. By contrast, there is an
infinite number of multiples of an integer. For example, the first five
positive multiples of 8 are 8, 16, 24, 32, and 40, but you could go on
listing multiples of 8 forever.



 If you add or subtract multiples of N, the result is a multiple of
N. You can restate this principle using any of the disguises above:
for instance, if N is a divisor of x and of y, then N is a divisor of x +
y.


 “0” is even
 Note also that 0^0 is indeterminate and never appears on the GRE.
Zero is the ONLY number that, when raised to the 0 power, does not
necessarily equal 1
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 

WORD PROBLEMS





 Quartiles and percentiles (Do over)
 Normal distribution curve distribution%: 34:14:2 on each
side


 If a GRE problem requires you to choose two or more sets of
items from separate pools, count the arrangements separately—
perhaps using a different anagram grid each time. Then
multiply the numbers of possibilities for each step
 
 To determine the probability that event X AND event Y will both
occur, MULTIPLY the two probabilities together. Note that the
events must be independent for this to work
QUANTITY COMPARISON STRATS

 Strategy Tip: If a variable has a defined range, you need to test

the boundaries of that range
 If a variable is defined in terms of another variable, simplify
and find a direct comparison.
 If a variable has no constraints, try to prove (D).
 For x>0 try for fractions like ½ and positive whole nos.
 

TEXT COMPLETION STRATS




If this digit immediately to the right is {0, 1, 2, 3, 4}, then you “round down”, and the digit in the
target place remains unchanged. If this digit immediately to the right is {5, 6, 7, 8, 9}, then you
“round up”, and the digit in the target place increases by 1.

 In any question that involves two groups that have some kind of
average value, use the principles of weighted averages
 Subtract in order to calculate many of the values shown in stacked
bar graphs.

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