Algebraic Fractions - SAT Math

Card 0 of 656

Question

Simplify x/2 – x/5

Answer

Simplifying this expression is similar to 1/2 – 1/5. The denominators are relatively prime (have no common factors) so the least common denominator (LCD) is 2 * 5 = 10. So the problem becomes 1/2 – 1/5 = 5/10 – 2/10 = 3/10.

Compare your answer with the correct one above

Question

If $\dpi{100} \small \frac{p}{6}$ is an integer, which of the following is a possible value of $\dpi{100} \small p$ ?

Answer

$\dpi{100} \small \frac{0}{6}=0$ , which is an integer (a number with no fraction or decimal part). All the other choices reduce to non-integers.

Compare your answer with the correct one above

Question

Simplify: $\frac{4x^{5}y^{3}z}{12x^{3}y^{6}z^{2}}$

Answer

$\frac{4x^{5}y^{3}z}{12x^{3}y^{6}z^{2}}=\frac{x^{2}}{3y^{3}z}$

First, let's simplify $\frac{4}{12}$ . The greatest common factor of 4 and 12 is 4. 4 divided by 4 is 1 and 12 divided by 4 is 3. Therefore $\frac{4}{12}=\frac{1}{3}$ .

To simply fractions with exponents, subtract the exponent in the numerator from the exponent in the denominator. That leaves us with $\frac{1}{3}x^{2}y^{-3}z^{-1}$ or $\frac{x^{2}}{3y^{3}z}$

Compare your answer with the correct one above

Question

Which of the following fractions is not equivalent to $\frac{6}{45}$ ?

Answer

Let us simplify $\frac{6}{45}$ :

$\frac{6}{45}=\frac{3\times 2}{3\times 15}=\frac{2}{15}$

We can get alternate forms of the same fraction by multiplying the denominator and the numerator by the same number:

$\frac{2\times 2}{15\times 2}=\frac{4}{30}$

$\frac{2\times 1.5}{15\times 1.5}=\frac{3}{22.5}$

Now let's look at $\frac{12}{89}$ :

$6 \times 2 = 12$ , but $45 \times 2 = 90$ .

Therefore, $\frac{12}{89}$ is the correct answer, as it is not equivalent to $\frac{6}{45}$ .

Compare your answer with the correct one above

Question

Which of the following is not equal to 32/24?

Answer

24/32 = 1.33

16/12 =1.33

224/168 =1.33

4/3 = 1.33

96/72 = 1.33

160/96 = 1.67

Compare your answer with the correct one above

Question

Find the root of

$y=\frac{x^2-\sqrt3x+\sqrt5x-\sqrt{15}}{x-\sqrt3}$

Answer

$y=\frac{x^2-\sqrt3x+\sqrt5x-\sqrt{15}}{x-\sqrt3}=\frac{(x-\sqrt3)(x+\sqrt5)}{x-\sqrt3}=x+\sqrt5$

The root occurs where . So we substitute 0 for .

$y=x+\sqrt{5}$

$0=x+\sqrt{5}$

This means that the root is at $x=-\sqrt5$ .

Compare your answer with the correct one above

Question

Simplify the fraction below:

$\frac{5}{125}$

Answer

The correct approach to solve this problem is to first write factors for the numerator and the denominator:

The highest common factor is 5. Therefore, you can divide the numerator and denominator by 5 in order to get a simplified fraction.

Thus the numerator becomes,

$\frac{5}{5}=1$ and the denominator becomes $\frac{125}{5}=25$ .

Therefore the final answer is $\frac{1}{25}$ .

Compare your answer with the correct one above

Question

Simplify: $\frac{32}{88}$

Answer

Find the common factors of the numerator and denominator. They both share factors of 2,4, and 8. For simplicity, factor out an 8 from both terms and simplify.

$\frac{32}{88}= \frac{8\times 4}{8\times 11}= \frac{4}{11}$

Compare your answer with the correct one above

Question

Simply the following fraction:

$\frac{\frac{a^2}{b}}{\frac{a}{b}}$

Answer

Remember that when you divide a fraction by a fraction, that is the same as multiplying the fraction in the numerator by the reciprocal of the fraction in the denominator.

In other words,

$\frac{\frac{a^2}{b}}{\frac{a}{b}} = \frac{a^2}{b}\cdot\frac{b}{a}=\frac{a^2b}{ab}$

Simplifying this final fraction gives us our correct answer, .

Compare your answer with the correct one above

Question

Solve for .

$\frac{\frac{x-2}{4^2}}{\frac{x^2-4}{2}}=1$

Answer

To solve for , simplify the fraction. In order to do this, recall that dividing by a fraction is the same as multiplying by its reciprocal. Therefore, rewrite the equation as follows.

$\frac{\frac{x-2}{4^2}}{\frac{x^2-4}{2}}=1\Rightarrow \frac{x-2}{4^2}\times \frac{2}{x^2-4}=1$

Now, simplify the first fraction by calculating four squared.

$\frac{x-2}{16}\times \frac{2}{x^2-4}=1$

From here, factor the denominator of the second fraction.

$\frac{x-2}{16}\times \frac{2}{(x-2)(x+2)}=1$

Next, factor the 16.

$\frac{x-2}{2(8)}\times \frac{2}{(x-2)(x+2)}=1$

From here, cancel out like terms that are in both the numerator and denominator. In this particular case that includes (x-2) and 2.

$\frac{1}{8(x+2)}=1$

Now, distribute the eight.

$\frac{1}{8x+16}=1$

Next, multiply both sides by the denominator.

$(8x+16)\times \frac{1}{8x+16}=1\times (8x+16)$

The (8x+16) cancels out and leaves the following equation.

Now to solve for perform opposite operations to move all numerical values to one side of the equation leaving by itself on the other side of the equation.

$\1=8x+16 \-15=8x \\\frac{-15}{8}=x$

Compare your answer with the correct one above

Question

Solve

Answer

The common denominator of the left side is x(x–1). Multiplying the top and bottom of 1/x by (x–1) yields

Since this statement is true, there are infinitely many solutions.

Compare your answer with the correct one above

Question

Evaluate when x=11. Round to the nearest tenth.

Answer

Wherever there is an x, plug in 11 and perform the given operations. The numerator will be equal to 83 and the denominator will be equal to 46. 83 divided by 46 is equal to 1.804… and since the second decimal place is not greater than or equal to 5, the first decimal place stays the same when rounding so the final answer is 1.8.

Compare your answer with the correct one above

Question

Simplify: $(\frac{x-4}{0.5})\div (\frac{1}{x+4})$

Answer

Recall that dividing is equivalent multiplying by the reciprocal. Therefore, ((x - 4) / (1 / 2)) / (1 / (x + 4)) = ((x - 4) * 2) * (x + 4) / 1.

Let's simplify this further:

(2x – 8) * (x + 4) = 2x2 – 8x + 8x – 32 = 2x2 – 32

Compare your answer with the correct one above

Question

If 3x = 12, y/4 = 10, and 4z = 9, what is the value of (10xyz)/xy?

Answer

Solve for the variables, the plug into formula.

x = 12/3 = 4

y = 10 * 4 = 40

z= 9/4 = 2 1/4

10xyz = 3600

Xy = 160

3600/160 = 22 1/2

Compare your answer with the correct one above

Question

Mary walked to school at an average speed of 2 miles per hour and jogged back along the same route at an average speed of 6 miles per hour. If her total traveling time was 1 hour, what was the total number of miles in the round trip?

Answer

Since Mary traveled 3 times as quickly coming from school as she did going to school (6 miles per hour compared to 2 miles per hour), we know that Mary spent only a third of the time coming from school as she did going. If x represents the number of hours it took to get to school, then x/3 represents the number of hours it took her to return.

Knowing that the total trip took 1 hour, we have:

x + x/3 = 1

3x/3 + 1x/3 = 1

4_x_/3 = 1

x = 3/4

So we know it took Mary 3/4 of an hour to travel to school (and the remaining 1/4 of an hour to get back).

Remembering that distance = rate * time, the distance Mary traveled on her way to school was (2 miles per hour) * (3/4 of an hour) = 3/2 miles. Furthermore, since she took the same route coming back, she must have traveled 3/2 of a mile to return as well.

Therefore, the the total number of miles in Mary's round trip is 3/2 miles + 3/2 miles = 6/2 miles = 3 miles.

Compare your answer with the correct one above

Question

According the pie chart, the degree measure of the sector representing the number of workers spending 5 to 9 years in the same role is how much greater in the construction industry chart than in the financial industry chart?

Answer

Since the values in the pie charts are currently in terms of percentages (/100), we must convert them to degrees (/360, since within a circle) to solve the question. The "5 to 9 years" portion for the financial and construction industries are 18 and 25 percent, respectively. As such, we can cross-multiply both:

18/100 = x/360

x = 65 degrees

25/100 = y/360

y = 90 degrees

Subtract: 90 – 65 = 25 degrees

Alternatively, we could first subtract the percentages (25 – 18 = 7), then convert the 7% to degree form via the same method of cross-multiplication.

Compare your answer with the correct one above

Question

6 contestants have an equal chance of winning a game. One contestant is disqualified, so now the 5 remaining contestants again have an equal chance of winning. How much more likely is a contestant to win after the disqualification?

Answer

When there are 6 people playing, each contestant has a 1/6 chance of winning. After the disqualification, the remaining contestants have a 1/5 chance of winning.

1/5 – 1/6 = 6/30 – 5/30 = 1/30.

Compare your answer with the correct one above

Question

If $w=\frac{1}{8}$ then which of the following is equal to $w^\frac{2}{3}$ ?

Answer

To raise $\frac{1}{8}$ to the exponent $\frac{2}{3}$ , square $\frac{1}{8}$ and then take the cube root.

$w^\frac{2}{3}=\sqrt[3]{w^2}$

$(\frac{1}{8})^\frac{2}{3}=\sqrt[3]{(\frac{1}{8})^2}=\sqrt[3]{\frac{1}{64}}$

$\sqrt[3]{\frac{1}{64}}=\frac{1}{4}$

$(\frac{1}{8})^{\frac{2}{3}}=\frac{1}{4}$

Compare your answer with the correct one above

Question

For this question, the following trigonometric identities apply:

$\csc x=\frac{1}{\sin x}$ ,

$\sec x=\frac{1}{\cos x}$

$\cot x=\frac{1}{\tan x}$

Simplify: $\sin ^{2}x\csc x\cot x$

Answer

To begin a problem like this, you must first convert everything to $\sin x$ and $\cos x$ alone. This way, you can begin to cancel and combine to its most simplified form.

Since $\csc x=\frac{1}{\sin x}$ and $\cot x=\frac{\cos x}{\sin x}$ , we insert those identities into the equation as follows.

$\sin ^{2}x\cdot \frac{1}{\sin x}\cdot \frac{\cos x}{\sin x}$

From here we combine the numerator and denominators of each fraction together to easily see what we can combine and cancel.

$\frac{\sin^{2}x\cdot \cos x}{\sin x\cdot \sin x}$

Since there is a $\sin ^{2}x$ in the numerator and the denominator, we can cancel them as they divide to equal 1. All we have left is $\cos x$ , the answer.

Compare your answer with the correct one above

Question

If pizzas cost dollars and sodas cost dollars, what is the cost of pizzas and sodas in terms of and ?

Answer

If 10 pizzas cost x dollars, then each pizza costs x/10. Similarly, each soda costs y/6. We can add the pizzas and sodas together by finding a common denominator:

$2\frac{x}{10}+2\frac{y}{6}=\frac{x}{5}+\frac{y}{3}=\frac{3x}{35}+\frac{5y}{53}=\frac{3x+5y}{15}$

Compare your answer with the correct one above

Tap the card to reveal the answer