SAT Math Tips Marios A.

Pappas

Intermediate Algebra
Exponents and roots
At most, you’ll see one problem on the Math Test dealing with exponents or roots. It’s
quite likely you won’t see any, but you’re still doing yourself a favor by preparing for
them.

Exponents are a shorthand method of describing how many times a particular number is
multiplied by itself. To write 3 ∙ 3 ∙ 3 ∙ 3 ∙ 3 in exponent form, we would simply count how
many threes were being multiplied together (in this case, five), and then write 3! .
In verbal form, 3! is stated as “three to the fifth power.”

Exponents Rules

Square Roots
The square root of a number is the number that, when squared (multiplied by itself), is
equal to the given number. For example, the square root of 16 is 4 , because 4 ´ 4 = 16

Square Roots Rules

2
a =a
a2 = a
a b = a ×b
a a
=
b b

BE CAREFUL!!!
SAT Math Tips Marios A. Pappas

a + b ¹ a+b
a - b ¹ a -b
Quadratic equation
Definition of a Quadratic Equation
A quadratic equation is a second-degree equation with one variable and usually two
solutions:

ax 2 + bx + c = 0

THE QUADRATIC FORMULA

Very rarely on the ACT, you may encounter a quadratic equation that cannot be solved by
factoring. In that case, you can use the quadratic formula to solve the equation. The
quadratic formula is:
- b ± b 2 - 4ac
x1, 2 =
2a

For example consider the equation x 2 - 5x + 6 = 0 .

D = (-5) 2 - 4 × 1 × 6 = 25 - 24 = 1

- (-5) ± 1
x1, 2 =
2 ×1

- (-5) + 1
x1 = =3
2

- (-5) - 1
x1 = =2
2

The quantity b 2 - 4ac is called the discriminant of the equation and is oftenly denoted
by D .

If D > 0 then the quadratic equation has two distinct real roots given by the previous
formula.
-b
If D = 0 then the quadratic equation has one “double” real solution given by x = .
2a
If D < 0 then the quadratic equation has no real solutions.

Vieta's formulas
If the equation ax 2 + bx + c = 0 has two real solutions (distinct or not ) x1 , x2 then the
following formulas can be applied for their sum and their product.
SAT Math Tips Marios A. Pappas

b
S = x1 + x2 = -
a
c
P = x1 x 2 =
a
Factorization of a quadratic form
ax 2 + bx + c = 0 has two solutions (distinct or not ) x1 , x2 then the
If the equation
quadratic form ax 2 + bx + c can be factorized in the following way

ax 2 + bx + c = a( x - x1 )( x - x2 )

For example x 2 - 5 x + 6 = 1 × ( x - 2)( x - 3)

Logarithms
The logarithm of a real positive number b at the base of a can be defined as the real
number x in which a should be raised in order to give b .In algebraic notation this
means:

log a b = x Û a x = b

For example
log 5 125 = 3 because 53 = 125 .

Logarithm properties

In order to use the following properties have in mind that always the base of the
logarithm must be a positive number different than 1 and that what is inside the
logarithm must be always positive.

log a (b × c) = log a b + log a c

b
log a ( ) = log a b - log a c
c
log a (b n ) = n log a b
log a 1 = 0
log a a = 1

log c a
log a b =
log c b (Change of base)

For example:

log 5 60 = log 5 (6 × 10) = log 5 6 + log 5 10

120
log 3 60 = log 3 ( ) = log 3 120 + log 3 2
2
SAT Math Tips Marios A. Pappas

log 3 125 = log 3 5 3 = 3 log 3 5

Arithmetic sequence
An arithmetic progression (AP) or arithmetic sequence is a sequence of numbers
such that the difference between the consecutive terms is constant. For instance, the
sequence 5, 7, 9, 11, 13, 15 … is an arithmetic progression with common difference of 2.

If the first term of the sequence is denoted by u1 and the common difference is d then
the formula for the nth term of the arithmetic sequence is

u n = u1 + (n - 1)d

For example the 2017th term of the sequence 5, 7, 9, 11, 13, 15 is

u 2017 = u1 + (2017 - 1) ´ d = 5 + 2016 ´ 2 = 4037

The sum
S n = u1 + u 2 + .... + u n of the first n terms of an arithmetic sequence is given by:

n
Sn = (u1 + u n ) = n (2u1 + (n - 1)d )
2 2

Geometric sequence
In mathematics, a geometric progression, also known as a geometric sequence, is
a sequence of numbers where each term after the first is found by multiplying the
previous one by a fixed, non-zero number called the common ratio. For example, the
sequence 2, 6, 18, 54, ... is a geometric progression with common ratio 3. Similarly 10, 5,
2.5, 1.25, ... is a geometric sequence with common ratio 1/2.

If the first term of the sequence is denoted by u1 and the common ratio is r then the
formula for the nth term of the geometric sequence is

u n = u1 × r n-1

For example the 6th term of the sequence 2,6,18 … is

u 6 = u1 × r 6-1 = 2 × 35 = 486

The sum of the first n terms of a geometric sequence is given by:

1- rn
S n = u1
1- r
SAT Math Tips Marios A. Pappas

If the common ratio r is greater than -1 and smaller than 1 then we can define the
infinite sum of the geometric sequence and is given by the formula

u1
S¥ =
1- r if -1 < r < 1

1 1 1
1+ + + + .... = 2
For example 2 4 8 because this is infinite sum is the infinite sum of a
1
d=
geometric sequence with first term u1 = 1 and 2 , so
u 1
S¥ = 1 = =2
1- r 1
1-
2
Matrices
A matrix (plural matrices) is a rectangular array of numbers, arranged in rows and
columns .For example, the dimensions of the matrix below are 2 × 3 (read "two by
three"), because there are two rows and three columns.

é2 2 4ù
ê ú
ë1 - 5 0û
The individual items in a matrix are called its elements or entries. Provided that they are
the same size (have the same number of rows and the same number of columns), two
matrices can be added or subtracted element by element.

For example

é2 2 4ù é1 2 4 ù é3 2 + 2 8ù
ê ú+ê ú=ê ú
ë 1 - 5 0 û ë5 3 - 1û ë6 -2 - 1û

é2 2 4ù é1 2 4 ù é 1 2 - 2 0ù
ê ú-ê ú=ê ú
ë1 - 5 0 û ë5 3 - 1û ë- 4 -8 1û

The scalar multiplication of a matrix A with a scalar λ gives another matrix λA of the
same size as A. The entries of λA are defined by multiplicating each element of the matrix
A with the real number λ.

é2 2 4ù é4 2 2 8ù
A=ê ú λΑ = ê ú
If l = 2 and ë1 - 5 0 û then ë 2 - 10 0 û.
SAT Math Tips Marios A. Pappas

Matrix multiplication
Multiplication of two matrices is defined if and only if the number of columns of the left
matrix is the same as the number of rows of the right matrix. If A is an m-by-n matrix
and B is an n-by-p matrix, then their matrix product AB is the m-by-p matrix whose
entries are given by dot product of the corresponding row of A and the corresponding
column of B.

For example

éa b ù é k l ù é a × k + b × m a × l + b × n ù
ê c d ú ´ ê m n ú = êc × k + d × m c × l + d × n ú
ë û ë û ë û

Functions
In mathematics, a function is a relation between a set of inputs and a set of permissible
outputs with the property that each input is related to exactly one output. An example is
the function that relates each real number x to its square x2. The output of a function f
corresponding to an input x is denoted by f(x) (read "f of x"). In this example, if the input
is −3, then the output is 9, and we may write f(−3) = 9. Likewise, if the input is 3, then the
output is also 9, and we may write f(3) = 9. (The same output may be produced by more
than one input, but each input gives only one output.) The input variable(s) are
sometimes referred to as the argument(s) of the function.

The set containing all possible values of x is called Domain and the set containing all
possible values of y or f(x) is called Range.

In general, when finding a domain there are two main restrictions to look out for:
SAT Math Tips Marios A. Pappas

1.) Division by zero. Division by zero is mathematically impossible. A function is

therefore undefined for all the values of x for which division by zero occurs. For
1
f ( x) =
example, x - 2 is undefined at x = 2 .

2.) Even roots. An even root (a square root, fourth root, etc.) of a negative number
does not exist. A function is undefined for all values of x that causes a negative
number to be the radicand of an even root.

For example the domain of the function f ( x ) = x - 3 is the set of all the real numbers
x such that x ³ 3 .

In order to find the range of a function you should check what values may the images of
the function take. Consider the function g ( x) = x + 1, the rang of this function is the
2

set of real numbers y such that y ³ 1 because :

x2 ³ 0
x2 +1 ³ 1
g ( x) ³ 1

Composition of Functions
The notation for a compound function is f ( g ( x)) , or ( f  g )( x) To evaluate a
compound function like f ( g ( x)) , first evaluate g at x. Then evaluate f at the results
of g(x). Basically, work with the inner parentheses first, and then the outer ones, just like
in any other algebraic expression.

Example

f ( x) = x 2 + 1
1
g ( x) =
x3

Then
2
1 æ 1 ö 1
( f  g )( x) = f ( g ( x)) = f ( 3 ) = ç 3 ÷ + 1 = 6 + 1
x èx ø x

( )
( g  f )( x) = g ( f ( x)) = g x 2 + 1 =
1
( x + 1) 3
2

If you have to calculate exact images you can work the following way:

1 1
g ( f (2)) = =
5 3
125 because f (2) = 5
SAT Math Tips Marios A. Pappas

Imaginary numbers
The imaginary number i is defined solely by the property that its square is −1:

i 2 = -1
With i defined this way, it follows directly from algebra that i and −i are both square roots
of −1.

Although the construction is called "imaginary", and although the concept of an

imaginary number may be intuitively more difficult to grasp than that of a real number,
the construction is perfectly valid from a mathematical standpoint. Real number
operations can be extended to imaginary and complex numbers by treating i as an
unknown quantity while manipulating an expression, and then using the definition to
replace any occurrence of i2 with −1. Higher integral powers of i can also be replaced with
−i, 1, i, or −1:

i0 = 1
i1 = i
i 2 = -1
i 3 = i × i 2 = i × (-1) = -i
i 4 = i × i 3 = i × (-i ) = -i 2 = -(-1) = 1
i 5 = i × i 4 = i ×1 = i
..........
In order to find i at the power of n you only need to find the remainder when n is divide
by 4 and then raise I to that power. The only results may be −i, 1, i, or −1.

For example
i 2001 = i 4´500+1 = i 1 = i

i 4003 = i 4´1000 +3 = i 3 = -i

Complex Numbers
A complex number is a number that can be expressed in the form a + bi, where a and b
are real numbers and i is the imaginary unit, satisfying the equation i2 = −1.In this
expression, a is the real part and b is the imaginary part of the complex number.

For example consider the complex number 7 + 3i , 7 is the real part of the number and 3
is the imaginary part of the number.

Addition and substraction can be defined on the set of complex numbers by additing or
substracting the real and the imaginary parts.

(a + bi ) + (c + di ) = (a + c) + (b + d )i

(a + bi ) - (c + di ) = (a - c) + (b - d )i

For example:
SAT Math Tips Marios A. Pappas

(2 + 3i) + (-1 + i) = 1 + 4i

In order to multiplicate two complex numbers you should use the distributive property
and the commutative property
(a + bi ) × (c + di ) = ac + adi + bci + bdi 2 = ac + adi + bci - bd = (ac - bd ) + (ad + bc)i

For example :

(1 + 2i) × (3 - i) = 3 - i + 6i - 2i 2 = 3 - i + 6i + 2 = 5 - 5i
For every complex number a + bi we can define its complex conjugate a - bi which is a
complex number with the same real part and the opposite imaginary part.

The complex conjugate is needed in order to divide two complex numbers. To perform
the operation you should multiply both the numerator and the denominator by the
complex conjugate of the denominator:

3 - 2i (3 - 2i )(2 - 5i) 6 - 15i - 4i + 10i 2 - 4 - 19i - 4 - 9i - 4 9

= = = = = - i
2 + 5i (2 + 5i)(2 - 5i) 2 2 - (5i) 2 4 + 25 29 25 25