ANSWERS AND EXPLANATIONS: PROBLEM SET 4

Easy
1. A

The question asks for the value of a. There are numbers in the answer choices, so use

PITA. Try (C) first. Does ? Nope. Look for a bigger number—(B) gives you ,

which is closer, but still no cigar. Choice (A) gives you . The correct answer is (A).

2. C

The question asks for the length of the base of the triangle. There are numbers in the

answer choices, so use PITA. Try (B) first. If the base = 4, then h – 4 = 1 and h = 5. The

formula for area of a triangle is bh, so the area would be 10. Too small. Try (C). If the

base is 6, then h – 6 = 1 and h = 7. The area is . The correct answer is (C).

3. C

The question asks for the value of d. Yes, it looks nasty, but it’s a breeze with the miracle

of Plugging In the Answers. Try (B) first: 32 = + 3 + 10; 9 = 2 + 13. Forget it. Try (C):

42 = 2 + 4 + 10; 16 = 16. The correct answer is (C).

Don’t Overthink It
Because answer choices are ordered, you can save a bit of time by
figuring out if you need a bigger or smaller number.

Medium
4. D

The question asks for a possible value of x. There are numbers in the answer choices, so

use PITA. Try (B) first. If x = 1, does …forget it. You can’t divide by 0. Try (C). If x = 2,
 does ? No way. Try (D). If x = 3, does ? Yes. The correct answer is (D).

Remember to avoid trying negatives [such as (A)] unless they’re all you have left or you

have some reason to think they’ll be right.

5. D

The question asks for the value of x that will make the function undefined, and there are
numbers in the answer choices. A fraction is undefined when the denominator is zero, so
plug in the values to see which one makes (x – 3)2 – 6(x – 3) + 9 = 0. Start with (C).
When x = 3, the denominator becomes (3 – 3)2 – 6(3 – 3) + 9 = 02 – 6(0) + 9 = 9.
Eliminate (C). It may be hard to tell if you need a bigger number or a smaller one, so just
pick a direction. For (D), if x = 6, the denominator becomes (6 – 3)2 – 6(6 – 3) + 9 = 32 –
6(3) + 9 = 9 – 18 + 9 = 0. The correct answer is (D).

6. D

The question asks for the value of x. There are numbers in the answer choices, so use
PITA. Try (C) first. Does 400 • 49 = 16,000? No, and hopefully you just estimate that and
don’t bother doing it, with or without your calculator. How about (D)? 400(40) = 16,000.
Yep. The correct answer is (D). If you picked (A), you miscounted the zeros. Try checking
your answers on your calculator.

7. C

The question asks for the radius of a circle with a certain area. There are numbers in the

answer choices, so use PITA. Try (C) first. Convert 0.5 to a fraction, because fractions are

better than decimals and because the question has a fraction in it. If the radius is , the

area is . The correct answer is (C).

That Dotty Dot

8. B

The question asks for the least number of days and there are numbers in the answer
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choices. Use PITA, starting with the smallest answer, which is (A). If she paints 5
 figurines per day for 23 days, she will paint 5 × 23 = 115 figurines for the rest of the

project. She already painted 3 figurines per day for the first 5 days, painting a total of 3 ×

5 = 15 figurines those days. Thus, the total number of figurines she will paint for the

entire project will be 115 + 15 = 130. She plans to sell 80% of them, so she will sell

= . This is less than the 112 she needs to sell, so eliminate

(A). Try (B). As above, she paints a total of 15 over the first 5 days. If she paints 5 per day

for an additional 25 days, she paints an additional 5 × 25 = 125 for a total of 125 + 15 =

140 figurines. She plans to sell 80% of them, so she will sell =

figurines. This matches the information in the question, so the correct

answer is (B).

Hard
9. B

The question asks for the value of x. There are numbers in the answer choices, so use
PITA. Try (C) first because the question is about percents and 100 is easy to do. 20% of
100 is 20. 100% of 100 – 70 is 30. Does 30 – 20 = 46? Nah. Try (B). 20% of 120 is 24.
120% of 50 is 60. Does 60 – 24 = 36? Yes. The correct answer is (B).

10. D

The question asks for a possible value of y. There are numbers in the answer choices, so
use PITA. Try (C) first. If y = 8, then x2 = 83. 83 = 512. If x2 = 512, x isn’t an integer.
Forget (C). Try (D). If y = 4, then x2 = 43, x2 = 64, and x = 8. Now try them in the second
equation: (8 – 4)2 = 2(8). 42 = 16. It works. Notice that when (C) didn’t work, you went
with a smaller number because it was easier. The correct answer is (D).

11. A

The question asks for the area of the circle. There are numbers in the answer choices, so

use PITA. First, write in 2π beside arc DB. Now try (B). If the area is 16π, the radius is 4.

Write in 4 beside the two radii, and also DB, because OD = DB. Aha! That makes

triangle DOB equilateral! Since angle DOB is 60°, and , that makes arc DB of

the circumference. Remember the radius is 4, so the circumference is 8π. Uh oh—2π is

not of 8π. So cross off (B). But at least now you know what to do. Try (A). If the area is
 36π, the radius is 6 and the circumference is 12π. Is of 12π equal to 2π? Yeah! The

correct answer is (A). Did that seem really painful? It was a lot of work, but then, it was a

hard question. The reason Plugging In is a good technique for this problem is that if you

Plug In the Answers, you get to move through the question like a robot, one step after the

other, and you don’t have to depend on a flash of insight.

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