{"id":17782,"date":"2019-08-29T20:31:12","date_gmt":"2019-08-30T01:31:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.kaptest.com\/blog\/prep\/?p=17782"},"modified":"2020-09-11T20:41:07","modified_gmt":"2020-09-11T20:41:07","slug":"demystifying-difficult-gre-math-problems","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wpapp.kaptest.com\/study\/gre\/demystifying-difficult-gre-math-problems\/","title":{"rendered":"Demystifying Difficult GRE Math Problems"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>In the art world, the term\u00a0<i>trompe l\u2019oeil<\/i>\u00a0refers to perspectival illusionism\u2014literally, \u201cto fool the eye.\u201d On the\u00a0<a title=\"What\u2019s on the GRE: GRE Quantitative Section\" href=\"http:\/\/www.kaptest.com\/blog\/prep\/gre\/whats-on-the-gre-gre-quantitative-section\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">GRE<\/a>\u00a0math section, you may notice test questions that use a similar technique in which a readily solvable problem will try to distract you from the very information that makes its solution accessible.<br \/>\nHere\u2019s an example of this tricky sort of test question that appears to involve some rather difficult GRE math:<br \/>\nIf\u00a0<i>x<\/i>\u00a0+ 2<i>y<\/i>\u00a0= 30, then<br \/>\n<div  class='avia-image-container  av-styling-    avia-builder-el-0  el_before_av_heading  avia-builder-el-first  avia-align-left '  itemprop=\"image\" itemscope=\"itemscope\" itemtype=\"https:\/\/schema.org\/ImageObject\"  ><div class='avia-image-container-inner'><div class='avia-image-overlay-wrap'><img class='wp-image-0 avia-img-lazy-loading-not-0 avia_image' src=\"http:\/\/www.kaptest.com\/blog\/prep\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/21\/2018\/01\/Screen-Shot-2016-07-26-at-9.02.41-PM.png\" alt='' title=''   itemprop=\"thumbnailUrl\"  \/><\/div><\/div><\/div> =<br \/>\n&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>A. 8<\/li>\n<li>B. 16<\/li>\n<li>C. 18<\/li>\n<li>D. 20<\/li>\n<li>E. 30<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<br \/>\nMany test-takers will take one look at this problem and see it more like this:<br \/>\nIf\u00a0<i>x<\/i>\u00a0+ 2<i>y<\/i>\u00a0= 30, then [SCREAMINGLY HORRIBLE, MUST FIND COMMON DENOMINATOR, ARGH!!!] =<br \/>\nBecause the latter portion of the problem is so intimidating, many test takers will neglect to notice the answer choices given.<br \/>\n&nbsp;<br \/>\n<div  style='padding-bottom:10px; ' class='av-special-heading av-special-heading-h3    avia-builder-el-1  el_after_av_image  el_before_av_heading  '><h3 class='av-special-heading-tag '  itemprop=\"headline\"  >See the test question differently<\/h3><div class='special-heading-border'><div class='special-heading-inner-border' ><\/div><\/div><\/div><br \/>\nThe\u00a0<a title=\"Top 10 Math Tips for Better Scores on the GRE\" href=\"http:\/\/www.kaptest.com\/blog\/prep\/gre\/top-10-math-tips-for-better-scores-on-the-gre\/\">clever test taker<\/a>, on the other hand, will force herself to focus on exactly the parts of the test question that are most easy to ignore, first seeing the problem this way:<br \/>\nIf\u00a0<i>x<\/i>\u00a0+ 2<i>y<\/i>\u00a0= 30, then [let\u2019s not worry about finding the common denominator for now] =<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>A. 8<\/li>\n<li>B. 16<\/li>\n<li>C. 18<\/li>\n<li>D. 20<\/li>\n<li>E. 30<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Suddenly, by ignoring the intimidating parts of the GRE math, two important ideas come into sharp focus:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>First, the testmaker is telling you that in order to solve the problem, it matters that\u00a0<i>x<\/i>\u00a0+ 2<i>y<\/i>\u00a0= 30.<\/li>\n<li>Second, despite there being two variables and only one equation, that scary-looking expression can somehow be reduced to a fairly innocent and more manageable\u00a0<em>integer<\/em>.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p><div  style='padding-bottom:10px; ' class='av-special-heading av-special-heading-h3    avia-builder-el-2  el_after_av_heading  el_before_av_image  '><h3 class='av-special-heading-tag '  itemprop=\"headline\"  >Don\u2019t let tricky problems cause Test Day panic<\/h3><div class='special-heading-border'><div class='special-heading-inner-border' ><\/div><\/div><\/div><br \/>\nThese two observations hold the key to unlocking the solution and avoiding the Test Day panic of rushing to calculate a common denominator head on.<br \/>\nNow, breathe and examine that horrible fractional expression again, looking for\u00a0<i>x<\/i>\u00a0+ 2<i>y<\/i>\u00a0within it.<br \/>\n<div  class='avia-image-container  av-styling-    avia-builder-el-3  el_after_av_heading  el_before_av_image  avia-align-center '  itemprop=\"image\" itemscope=\"itemscope\" itemtype=\"https:\/\/schema.org\/ImageObject\"  ><div class='avia-image-container-inner'><div class='avia-image-overlay-wrap'><img class='wp-image-0 avia-img-lazy-loading-not-0 avia_image' src=\"http:\/\/www.kaptest.com\/blog\/prep\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/21\/2018\/01\/Screen-Shot-2016-07-26-at-9.02.41-PM-1.png\" alt='' title=''   itemprop=\"thumbnailUrl\"  \/><\/div><\/div><\/div><br \/>\nIn fact, there are two fractions with\u00a0<i>x<\/i>\u00a0as the numerator and two fractions with 2<i>y<\/i>\u00a0as the numerator. One of each is over a 3 in the denominator, and the others are over a 5 in the denominator.<br \/>\nIt turns out, this is just an addition problem. There\u2019s no reason to have to look at it in the order the test maker gave it to you. Instead, regroup the expression into a more sensible arrangement to simplify the math:<br \/>\n<div  class='avia-image-container  av-styling-    avia-builder-el-4  el_after_av_image  el_before_av_image  avia-align-center '  itemprop=\"image\" itemscope=\"itemscope\" itemtype=\"https:\/\/schema.org\/ImageObject\"  ><div class='avia-image-container-inner'><div class='avia-image-overlay-wrap'><img class='wp-image-0 avia-img-lazy-loading-not-0 avia_image' src=\"http:\/\/www.kaptest.com\/blog\/prep\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/21\/2018\/01\/Screen-Shot-2016-07-26-at-9.02.49-PM.png\" alt='' title=''   itemprop=\"thumbnailUrl\"  \/><\/div><\/div><\/div><br \/>\nBy focusing on the simple information the test maker provides, you can now dispose of this problem easily by replacing each\u00a0<i>x<\/i>\u00a0+ 2<i>y<\/i>\u00a0with 30:<br \/>\n<div  class='avia-image-container  av-styling-    avia-builder-el-5  el_after_av_image  el_before_av_sidebar  avia-align-center '  itemprop=\"image\" itemscope=\"itemscope\" itemtype=\"https:\/\/schema.org\/ImageObject\"  ><div class='avia-image-container-inner'><div class='avia-image-overlay-wrap'><img class='wp-image-0 avia-img-lazy-loading-not-0 avia_image' src=\"http:\/\/www.kaptest.com\/blog\/prep\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/21\/2018\/01\/Screen-Shot-2016-07-26-at-9.02.57-PM-300x46.png\" alt='' title=''   itemprop=\"thumbnailUrl\"  \/><\/div><\/div><\/div><br \/>\nMaking sure that you don\u2019t ignore the subtle signals given by the test makers\u2014rather than being distracted or intimidated by seemingly-impossible GRE math questions\u2014will serve you well on\u00a0<a title=\"What to Expect on GRE Test Day\" href=\"http:\/\/www.kaptest.com\/blog\/prep\/gre\/what-to-expect-on-gre-test-day\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Test Day<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><div  class='avia-builder-widget-area clearfix  avia-builder-el-6  el_after_av_image  avia-builder-el-last '><div id=\"text-70\" class=\"widget clearfix widget_text\">\t\t\t<div class=\"textwidget\"><p><span data-sumome-listbuilder-embed-id=\"a78fe19e226d385662749ccaadcdccd7ecdcab651c77e3b874bfcb76a80605a7\"><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div><div id=\"text-71\" class=\"widget clearfix widget_text\">\t\t\t<div class=\"textwidget\"><p><span data-sumome-listbuilder-embed-id=\"185e834399a9fdd414ded52f3f51a4735f464b8c612f006f44ffba835a649b4f\"><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div><\/div><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In the art world, the term\u00a0trompe l\u2019oeil\u00a0refers to perspectival illusionism\u2014literally, \u201cto fool the eye.\u201d On the\u00a0GRE\u00a0math section, you may notice test questions that use a similar technique in which a readily solvable problem will try to distract you from the very information that makes its solution accessible. Here\u2019s an example of this tricky sort of [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":27066,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[68],"tags":[69,316],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpapp.kaptest.com\/study\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17782"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpapp.kaptest.com\/study\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpapp.kaptest.com\/study\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpapp.kaptest.com\/study\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpapp.kaptest.com\/study\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17782"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/wpapp.kaptest.com\/study\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17782\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":34620,"href":"https:\/\/wpapp.kaptest.com\/study\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17782\/revisions\/34620"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpapp.kaptest.com\/study\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27066"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpapp.kaptest.com\/study\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17782"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpapp.kaptest.com\/study\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17782"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpapp.kaptest.com\/study\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17782"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}