Question ID bd87bc09
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty
SAT Math Geometry and Right triangles and
Trigonometry trigonometry
ID: bd87bc09
Triangle above is a right triangle, and .
What is the length of side ?
ID: bd87bc09 Answer
Rationale
The correct answer is 24. The sine of an acute angle in a right triangle is equal to the ratio of the length of the side
opposite the angle to the length of the hypotenuse. In the triangle shown, the sine of angle B, or , is equal to the
ratio of the length of side to the length of side . It’s given that the length of side is 26 and that
. Therefore, . Multiplying both sides of this equation by 26 yields .
By the Pythagorean Theorem, the relationship between the lengths of the sides of triangle ABC is as follows:
, or . Subtracting 100 from both sides of yields .
Taking the square root of both sides of yields .
Question Difficulty: Hard
Question ID 1429dcdf
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty
SAT Math Geometry and Right triangles and
Trigonometry trigonometry
ID: 1429dcdf
In the triangle shown, what is the value of ?
ID: 1429dcdf Answer
Correct Answer: .6956, .6957, 16/23
Rationale
The correct answer is . In a right triangle, the sine of an acute angle is defined as the ratio of the length of the side
opposite the angle to the length of the hypotenuse. In the triangle shown, the length of the side opposite the angle with
measure is units and the length of the hypotenuse is units. Therefore, the value of is . Note that
16/23, .6956, .6957, 0.695, and 0.696 are examples of ways to enter a correct answer.
Question Difficulty: Hard
Question ID 4c95c7d4
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty
SAT Math Geometry and Right triangles and
Trigonometry trigonometry
ID: 4c95c7d4
A graphic designer is creating a logo for a company. The logo is shown in the
figure above. The logo is in the shape of a trapezoid and consists of
three congruent equilateral triangles. If the perimeter of the logo is
20 centimeters, what is the combined area of the shaded regions, in square
centimeters, of the logo?
A.
B.
C.
D. 16
ID: 4c95c7d4 Answer
Correct Answer: C
Rationale
Choice C is correct. It’s given that the logo is in the shape of a trapezoid that consists of three congruent equilateral
triangles, and that the perimeter of the trapezoid is 20 centimeters (cm). Since the perimeter of the trapezoid is the sum
of the lengths of 5 of the sides of the triangles, the length of each side of an equilateral triangle is . Dividing
up one equilateral triangle into two right triangles yields a pair of congruent 30°-60°-90° triangles. The shorter leg of
each right triangle is half the length of the side of an equilateral triangle, or 2 cm. Using the Pythagorean Theorem,
, the height of the equilateral triangle can be found. Substituting and and solving for b yields
cm. The area of one equilateral triangle is , where and . Therefore, the
area of one equilateral triangle is . The shaded area consists of two such triangles, so its area
is .
Alternate approach: The area of a trapezoid can be found by evaluating the expression , where is the
length of one base, is the length of the other base, and h is the height of the trapezoid. Substituting , ,
and yields the expression , or , which gives an area of for the
trapezoid. Since two-thirds of the trapezoid is shaded, the area of the shaded region is .
Choice A is incorrect. This is the height of the trapezoid. Choice B is incorrect. This is the area of one of the equilateral
triangles, not two. Choice D is incorrect and may result from using a height of 4 for each triangle rather than the height
of .
Question Difficulty: Hard
Question ID 55bb437a
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty
SAT Math Geometry and Right triangles and
Trigonometry trigonometry
ID: 55bb437a
In the figure above, . If and
, what is the length of ?
ID: 55bb437a Answer
Rationale
The correct answer is 6. Since , and are both similar to 3-4-5 triangles. This means that
they are both similar to the right triangle with sides of lengths 3, 4, and 5. Since , which is 3 times as long as
the hypotenuse of the 3-4-5 triangle, the similarity ratio of to the 3-4-5 triangle is 3:1. Therefore, the length of
(the side opposite to ) is , and the length of (the side adjacent to ) is . It is also
given that . Since and , it follows that , which means that the similarity ratio
of to the 3-4-5 triangle is 2:1 ( is the side adjacent to ). Therefore, the length of , which is the side
opposite to , is .
Question Difficulty: Hard
Question ID 6933b3d9
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty
SAT Math Geometry and Right triangles and
Trigonometry trigonometry
ID: 6933b3d9
In triangle RST above, point W (not shown) lies on . What is the value of
?
ID: 6933b3d9 Answer
Rationale
The correct answer is 0. Note that no matter where point W is on , the sum of the measures of and
is equal to the measure of , which is . Thus, and are complementary angles.
Since the cosine of an angle is equal to the sine of its complementary angle, . Therefore,
.
Question Difficulty: Hard
Question ID 6ab30ce3
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty
SAT Math Geometry and Right triangles and
Trigonometry trigonometry
ID: 6ab30ce3
Triangle is similar to triangle , where corresponds to and corresponds to . Angles and are
right angles. If and , what is the length of ?
A.
B.
C.
D.
ID: 6ab30ce3 Answer
Correct Answer: D
Rationale
Choice D is correct. Corresponding angles in similar triangles have equal measures. It's given that triangle is
similar to triangle , where corresponds to , so the measure of angle is equal to the measure of angle .
Therefore, if , then . It's given that angles and are right angles, so triangles
and are right triangles. The adjacent side of an acute angle in a right triangle is the side closest to the angle that
is not the hypotenuse. It follows that the adjacent side of angle is side . The opposite side of an acute angle in a
right triangle is the side across from the acute angle. It follows that the opposite side of angle is side . The
tangent of an acute angle in a right triangle is the ratio of the length of the opposite side to the length of the adjacent
side. Therefore, . If , the length of side can be found by substituting for and
for in the equation , which yields . Multiplying both sides of this equation by
yields . Since the length of side is times the length of side , it follows that triangle is
a special right triangle with angle measures , , and . Therefore, the length of the hypotenuse, , is times
the length of side , or . Substituting for in this equation yields , or
. Thus, if and , the length of is .
Choice A is incorrect and may result from conceptual or calculation errors.
Choice B is incorrect and may result from conceptual or calculation errors.
Choice C is incorrect. This is the length of , not .
Question Difficulty: Hard
Question ID 7c25b0dc
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty
SAT Math Geometry and Right triangles and
Trigonometry trigonometry
ID: 7c25b0dc
The length of a rectangle’s diagonal is , and the length of the rectangle’s shorter side is . What is the length of
the rectangle’s longer side?
ID: 7c25b0dc Answer
Correct Answer: 12
Rationale
The correct answer is . The diagonal of a rectangle forms a right triangle, where the shorter side and the longer side
of the rectangle are the legs of the triangle and the diagonal of the rectangle is the hypotenuse of the triangle. It's given
that the length of the rectangle's diagonal is and the length of the rectangle's shorter side is . Thus, the length of
the hypotenuse of the right triangle formed by the diagonal is and the length of one of the legs is . By the
Pythagorean theorem, if a right triangle has a hypotenuse with length and legs with lengths and , then
. Substituting for and for in this equation yields , or .
Subtracting from both sides of this equation yields . Taking the square root of both sides of this equation
yields , or . Since represents a length, which must be positive, the value of is . Thus, the
length of the rectangle's longer side is .
Question Difficulty: Hard
Question ID c6dff223
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty
SAT Math Geometry and Right triangles and
Trigonometry trigonometry
ID: c6dff223
Triangle is similar to triangle , where angle corresponds to angle and angles and are right angles.
The length of is times the length of . If , what is the value of ?
ID: c6dff223 Answer
Correct Answer: .7241, 21/29
Rationale
The correct answer is . It's given that triangle is similar to triangle , where angle corresponds to angle
and angles and are right angles. In similar triangles, the tangents of corresponding angles are equal. Therefore,
if , then . In a right triangle, the tangent of an acute angle is the ratio of the length of the leg
opposite the angle to the length of the leg adjacent to the angle. Therefore, in triangle , if , the ratio of
the length of to the length of is . If the lengths of and are and , respectively, then the ratio of
the length of to the length of is . In a right triangle, the sine of an acute angle is the ratio of the length of the
leg opposite the angle to the length of the hypotenuse. Therefore, the value of is the ratio of the length of to
the length of . The length of can be calculated using the Pythagorean theorem, which states that if the lengths
of the legs of a right triangle are and and the length of the hypotenuse is , then . Therefore, if the
lengths of and are and , respectively, then , or . Taking the
positive square root of both sides of this equation yields . Therefore, if the lengths of and are and
, respectively, then the length of is and the ratio of the length of to the length of is . Thus, if
, the value of is . Note that 21/29, .7241, and 0.724 are examples of ways to enter a correct
answer.
Question Difficulty: Hard
Question ID 92eb236a
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty
SAT Math Geometry and Right triangles and
Trigonometry trigonometry
ID: 92eb236a
In a right triangle, the tangent of one of the two acute angles is . What
is the tangent of the other acute angle?
A.
B.
C.
D.
ID: 92eb236a Answer
Correct Answer: D
Rationale
Choice D is correct. The tangent of a nonright angle in a right triangle is defined as the ratio of the length of the leg
opposite the angle to the length of the leg adjacent to the angle. Using that definition for tangent, in a right triangle with
legs that have lengths a and b, the tangent of one acute angle is and the tangent for the other acute angle is . It
follows that the tangents of the acute angles in a right triangle are reciprocals of each other. Therefore, the tangent of
the other acute angle in the given triangle is the reciprocal of or .
Choice A is incorrect and may result from assuming that the tangent of the other acute angle is the negative of the
tangent of the angle described. Choice B is incorrect and may result from assuming that the tangent of the other acute
angle is the negative of the reciprocal of the tangent of the angle described. Choice C is incorrect and may result from
interpreting the tangent of the other acute angle as equal to the tangent of the angle described.
Question Difficulty: Hard
Question ID 2be01bd9
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty
SAT Math Geometry and Right triangles and
Trigonometry trigonometry
ID: 2be01bd9
Triangle is similar to triangle , where angle corresponds to angle and angle corresponds to angle
. Angles and are right angles. If , what is the value of ?
ID: 2be01bd9 Answer
Correct Answer: .14, 7/50
Rationale
The correct answer is . It's given that triangle is similar to triangle , where angle corresponds to angle
and angle corresponds to angle . In similar triangles, the tangents of corresponding angles are equal. Since
angle and angle are corresponding angles, if , then . It's also given that angles and
are right angles. It follows that triangle is a right triangle with acute angles and . The tangent of one acute
angle in a right triangle is the inverse of the tangent of the other acute angle in the triangle. Therefore,
. Substituting for in this equation yields , or . Thus, if
, the value of is . Note that 7/50 and .14 are examples of ways to enter a correct answer.
Question Difficulty: Hard
Question ID dba6a25a
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty
SAT Math Geometry and Right triangles and
Trigonometry trigonometry
ID: dba6a25a
In the figure above, is parallel to .
What is the length of ?
ID: dba6a25a Answer
Rationale
The correct answer is 30. In the figure given, since is parallel to and both segments are intersected by , then
angle BDC and angle AEC are corresponding angles and therefore congruent. Angle BCD and angle ACE are also
congruent because they are the same angle. Triangle BCD and triangle ACE are similar because if two angles of one
triangle are congruent to two angles of another triangle, the triangles are similar. Since triangle BCD and triangle ACE
are similar, their corresponding sides are proportional. So in triangle BCD and triangle ACE, corresponds to and
corresponds to . Therefore, . Since triangle BCD is a right triangle, the Pythagorean theorem can
be used to give the value of CD: . Taking the square root of each side gives . Substituting the
values in the proportion yields . Multiplying each side by CE, and then multiplying by
yields . Therefore, the length of is 30.
Question Difficulty: Hard
Question ID 25da87f8
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty
SAT Math Geometry and Right triangles and
Trigonometry trigonometry
ID: 25da87f8
A triangle with angle measures 30°, 60°, and 90° has a perimeter of .
What is the length of the longest side of the triangle?
ID: 25da87f8 Answer
Rationale
The correct answer is 12. It is given that the triangle has angle measures of 30°, 60°, and 90°, and so the triangle is a
special right triangle. The side measures of this type of special triangle are in the ratio . If x is the measure of
the shortest leg, then the measure of the other leg is and the measure of the hypotenuse is 2x. The perimeter of
the triangle is given to be , and so the equation for the perimeter can be written as
. Combining like terms and factoring out a common factor of x on the left-hand side of the
equation gives . Rewriting the right-hand side of the equation by factoring out 6 gives
. Dividing both sides of the equation by the common factor gives x = 6. The longest
side of the right triangle, the hypotenuse, has a length of 2x, or 2(6), which is 12.
Question Difficulty: Hard
