REVIEW SHEETS

GEOMETRY
MATH 097
A Summary of Concepts Needed to be Successful in Mathematics

The following sheets list the key concepts that are taught in the specified math course. The sheets present
concepts in the order they are taught and give examples of their use.

WHY THESE SHEETS ARE USEFUL –

• To help refresh your memory on old math skills you may have forgotten.

• To prepare for math placement test.

• To help you decide which math course is best for you.

HOW TO USE THESE SHEETS –

• Students who successfully review spend from four to five hours on this material. We recommend that you
cover up the solutions to the examples and try working the problems one by one. Then check your work by
looking at the solution steps and the answer. Note: A graphing calculator can be used on this test, so you may
want to use one as you review.

KEEP IN MIND –

• These sheets are not intended to be a short course. They are intended to review material for the student who
has had the coursework previously. You should use them simply to help you determine at what skill level in
math you should begin study. For many people, the key to success and enjoyment of learning math is in getting
started at the right place. You will most likely be more satisfied and comfortable if you start onto the path of
math and science by selecting the appropriate beginning stepping stone.

• Remember that geometry tends to use considerably more vocabulary than algebra courses. Thus we use
extensive vocabulary in this review and make no attempt to define the terms. The goal of studying geometry in
college is to be able to solve problems by recognizing the geometry in a situation, drawing a reasonable picture,
and applying geometric and algebraic principles.
Metric Geometry (Geometry associated with measurement)

I. Formulas for Perimeter, Area, Volume and Surface Area.

Be familiar with common units of measurement in both Standard English and Metric systems.

Description Formula Variables

Perimeter (P)
Circumference (C) of a circle C= , d = diameter

rectangle P=2l+2w l = length, w = width

square P=4s s = side
triangle P=a+b+c a, b, c = sides

Area (A)
circle A= , r = radius

parallelogram A=bh b = base, h = height

rectangle A=lw l = length, w = width
square A = s2 s = side
triangle A = ½ (b h) b = base, h = height
trapezoid A= a, b = parallel sides, h = height

Volume (V)
cube V = s3 s = side

cone V= h r = radius, h = height

cylinder V= h r = radius, h = height

pyramid V = Bh B = area of base, h = height

rectangular box V=lwh l = length, w = width,

h = height

sphere V= r = radius

Surface Area (S)

cylinder S=2 +2 rh r = radius, h = height

sphere S=4 r = radius

Problems:

1. Find the volume of a box (without lid) made from an 8 ½ x 11 inch paper with 2 inch square corners cut out.

11 in

8 ½ in

2. Express the area, A, of a circle as a function of its circumference, C.

3. An 8 ½ x 11 sheet of paper has 4 circles of diameter 3 inches cut from it. What is the area of the remaining paper?
11 in

8 ½ in

3 in

II. Angle Measurement

A. The angle between the rays forming an angle is measured in degrees. 360 degrees is the traditional value for a full
revolution between the rays of an angle. (Another form of angle measure is radians, which is introduced in
Trigonometry.)

B. Supplementary angles are two angles which add to 180 degrees; complementary angles add to 90 degrees. A linear
pair is two angles along a straight line, and they are supplementary. Angles in a triangle add to 180 degrees. Angles in a
quadrilateral add to 360 degrees. Angles in other polygons can be derived by placing diagonals in the figure to cut it into
a minimum number of triangles, and adding up the angles of the triangles.

C. Lines m and n below are parallel. The transversal cutting the parallel lines forms several pairs of equal angles.

x◦ 180◦ - x 180◦ - x x◦

180◦ - x x◦ x◦ 180◦ - x

m n
Problem: 80◦ l
120◦

4. What are the measures of the angles labeled x, y, and z? x m

y z
l // m

III. Pythagorean Theorem

A. A triangle is a right triangle if and only if the sum of the squares of the legs is equal to the square of the hypotenuse.
(“If and only if” means the statement is reversible.) If a and b represent the lengths of the legs, and c represents the
length of the hypotenuse, then a2 + b2 = c2 .

Problems (These problems are themselves very important concepts, but are included here because they are typical of
the applications of geometry encountered in trigonometry and calculus.)

5. Show that an isosceles triangle has sides in the ratio of 1 : 1 :

x h

6. Show that a 30-60-90 degree right triangle has sides in the ratio 1 : : 2
30◦

60◦ ┐ 60◦

7. Find the area of an equilateral triangle with height = 3 in.

3 in.

60◦ ┐ 60◦

B. The Pythagorean Theorem extends to three dimensions. In a box, the long diagonal squared is equal to the sum of
the squares of the length, width, and height. + w2 + h2 = d2

Problems: 4 in
3 in.
8. What is the length of the diagonal of a box with dimensions 2 x 3 x 4 inches?
d
2 in
9. Find AB if A and B are midpoints of the edges of the rectangular
parallelepiped (box) shown.
10 cm
6 cm
A
A
8 cm

IV. Triangle Congruence

Two triangles are congruent if their corresponding sides and angles match according to Side-Angle-Side (SAS),
Side-Side-Side (SSS), Angle-Side-Angle (ASA) or if in a right triangle Hypotenuse-Leg (HL).

Triangles are not necessarily congruent if their corresponding sides and angles match according to
Side-Side-Angle (SSA).

Problem:

10. Sketch a triangle with sides 4 cm, 6 cm, and an angle of 40 degrees opposite the 4 cm side.

V. Triangle Inequality

The lengths of the two shortest sides of a triangle must add up to more than the length of the longest side.

Problem:

11. Sketch a triangle with sides 1, 2, and 7 inches.

VI. Triangle Similarity

A. Triangles with congruent corresponding angles, Angle-Angle-Angle, are called similar triangles. Corresponding sides
of these triangles are proportional.

B. Relating triangles or angles with parallel lines: Parallel lines cut off proportional line segments on transversals.

C. The trigonometric definitions of the sine, cosine and tangent ratios are based on the proportional side property of
similar triangles. If Angle A is one of the acute angles of a right triangle, then:

sine ratio of A = cosine ratio of A = tangent ratio of A =

 10 cm
Problems: H
A B
12. In the figure shown, what is the length of segment x?
x
F G C 8 cm

5 cm

E D
6 cm
ABDE is an isosceles trapezoid

AB // FC // ED

13. Using an appropriate trig ratio, find the length of side x:

50°

2.4 cm

14. At a certain time on a clear day, the tip of the shadow of a tree and the shadow of a 5 foot tall girl coincide. The girl
stands 20 feet from the tree. If the girl’s shadow is 6 feet long, how tall is the tree?

VII. Similarity: Area and Volume

A. The ratio of the areas of two similar figures is equal to the square of the ratios of their corresponding parts (sides of
linear figures, radii of circles).

B. The ratio of the volumes of two similar figures is equal to the cube of the ratios of their corresponding parts (sides of
objects made with straight lines and flat surfaces, radii of spheres).

Problem:

15. If the length, width, and height of a box are doubled, how does the volume of the newly formed box compare with
the original box? 2w

w
2h

l 2l
VIII. Circles

A. A tangent to a circle is perpendicular to the radius at the point of tangency.

B. Two tangents to a circle from the same exterior point are equal in length.

C. The central angle in degrees = the intercepted arc in degrees.

The inscribed angle in degrees = ½ the intercepted arc in degrees.

Problem:

16. Lines PA and PB are tangent to a circle at points A and B, respectively. Angle APB measures 40 degrees. What is the
length of the minor arc AB?
A

40° P

Non-Metric Geometry (Geometry involved with vocabulary and classification)

I. Identify and classify shapes into appropriate categories.

A. Triangles: scalene, obtuse, acute, isosceles, equilateral, right

Be able to identify and draw all medians, altitudes, angle bisectors, and perpendicular bisectors of sides for
each type of triangle. Observe properties of common intersections.

Use terms such as base, height, auxiliary line.

B. Quadrilaterals: square, rectangle, parallelogram, rhombus (diamond), trapezoid, non-convex quadrilateral,

kite

Be able to identify each type of quadrilateral by relative length of sides, number of parallel sides, equality of
sides, number of right angles, bisection of diagonals, or perpendicularity of diagonals.

C. Polygons: triangle, quadrilateral (4 sides), pentagon (5 sides), hexagon (6 sides), heptagon (7 sides, also
septagon), octagon (8 sides), nonagon (9 sides), decagon (10 sides), dodecaton (12 sides)

D. Regular Polyhedra: tetrahedron (4 equilateral triangles as faces), cube (6 squares as faces), octahedron (8
equilateral triangles), dodecahedron (12 pentagons), icosahedron (20 equilateral triangles)

E. Solids: pyramid, parallelepiped, rectilinear solid, cone, cylinder, sphere, prism

F. Curved shapes: circle, ellipse (oval), parabola, hyperbola
These shapes are known as conic sections and are presented in detail n Intermediate Algebra and in
Trigonometry. They are not in the LCC Geometry course but are described elsewhere in this packet.

Problems:

17. Sketch a cylinder inscribed in a sphere.

18. Sketch and identify all types of quadrilaterals with diagonals that bisect each other.

19. Ignoring air or wind resistance, what is the path of a ball thrown into the air?

II. Use common terminology associated with 2 and 3-dimensional geometric figures.

A. Points: intersection, vertex, collinear

B. Angles: acute, right, obtuse, straight, reflex, inscribed, central, interior, exterior, complementary,
supplementary, vertical, adjacent, dihedral

C. Lines: lines, line segment (edge), rays (half-line with one endpoint), perpendicular, parallel, skew, auxiliary
lines (in triangles), coincident, concurrent

D. Parallel lines: interior angles, alternate angles, corresponding angles, exterior angles

E. Circles: semicircle, arc, sector, segment, chord, diameter, radius, radii, center, tangent, secant, inscribed
angle, central angle, inscribed circles, circumscribed circles

F. Planes: parallel planes, intersecting planes, lines of intersection, point of intersection, half-plane

G. Shapes: congruent, similar, oblique

Problems:

20. What kind of angle is formed if the angle is inscribed in a circle and the sides of the angle pass through the
endpoints of the diameter of the circle?

21. Sketch an exterior angle of a regular pentagon.

22. Sketch a circle with center C, and two tangents to the circle from an exterior point P. (From the metric
geometry section, what do you know about the tangent line and the radius at the point of tangency? What do
you know about the distance from P to the two tangent points?)

III. Visual perception including cross-sections of solids based on preceding vocabulary.

Problems:

23. Sketch a cone-shaped tank resting on its point with water level at 1/3 of its height.
24. Sketch a rectangle and the shape obtained by rotating it about one of its long edges.

25. If the answer in problem 24 is sliced parallel to the short side of the rectangle, what shape is obtained?

IV. Explore rigidity of a figure.

Problems:

26. What is the minimum number of diagonals needed in a pentagon to make it a rigid figure?

27. What is structurally wrong with this gate?

V. Symmetry

College Algebra and Trigonometry emphasize the symmetry properties of equations and functions both in algebraic
terms and in graphing.

A. Line symmetry, reflection, or axial symmetry refer to the property of an object being able to be reflected over or
folded along a line and match with itself. The axis of symmetry or line of symmetry is frequently the x or y axis in
coordinate graphing.

B. Rotation, or rotational symmetry, refers to the property of an object being able to be rotated about a point, and
remain unchanged. The center of symmetry is frequently the origin in coordinate graphing. (The rectangular hyperbola
and simple third degree equations have point symmetry with the point of symmetry being the origin.)

C. Translation or slide symmetry refers to the motion where one shape moves to another location without rotating or
changing in any way.

Problems:

28. Draw in the line or axis of symmetry in each figure. There may be more than one in each figure.

29. Which of these have rotational symmetry?

a. b. c. d. e
Coordinate Graphing or Analytic Geometry

This topic is commonly part of both algebra and geometry curricula in secondary schools. At LCC, it is
presented in Introductory Algebra and Intermediate Algebra, expanded in College Algebra and used heavily in
Trigonometry and Calculus. In the latter two courses as well as in engineering courses, students are expected
to be able to assign coordinates to geometric figures and derive formulas or other information.

I. Vocabulary

Coordinate (x, y) , x-axis (horizontal axis), y-axis (vertical axis), origin, quadrant, x-intercept (a, 0), y-intercept (0, b)

II. Slope

A. Slope of lines = = =

B. Special slopes:

Horizontal lines have zero slope.

Vertical lines have undefined slope due to division by zero.
Parallel lines have the same slope.
Perpendicular lines have slopes that are negative reciprocals; hence, the slopes of perpendicular lines have a product of
negative one.

III. Linear Equations

A. Slope-intercept form: y = mx + b where m = slope, b = y-intercept

B. Point-slope form: y – y1 = m (x – x1) where m = slope and (x1 , y1 ) = any point on the line

C. Two-point form: Use two points to find the slope, then use point-slope form above.

IV. Distance Formula (Pythagorean Theorem applied to coordinates.)

d=

V. Midpoint Formula (The average of two coordinates)

midpoint = , )

Problems: (Sections I to V, above) y l

30. Find the equation of the line through (4, 5) and (2, -3).

31. Are the lines y = 3x and 3y + x = 0 perpendicular?

a
32. For the figure shown, find an equation for the line l in the form y = mx + b.
x