ANSWERS AND EXPLANATIONS: PROBLEM SET 13

Easy
1. C

The question asks for the volume of an object given information about its mass and

density. Translate the first sentence into an equation. If the density of an object is equal

to the mass of the object divided by the volume of the object, then . Since the

density is 500 pounds per square foot and the mass is 2,000 pounds, plug d = 500

and m = 2,000 into the equation to get . Multiply both sides by V to get

500V = 2,000. Divide both sides by 500 to get V = 4. The correct answer is (C).

2. A

The question asks for the value of sin b. The question says that , and ,

so place 5 adjacent to a and 13 as the hypotenuse. The question asks for sin b, which is

. You just labeled the side opposite of b as 5 and you know the hypotenuse is 13, so

. The correct answer is (A).

3. B

The question asks which choice is equivalent to . The answer choices include trig

functions, so use SOHCAHTOA. The functions included in the choices are cos, which is

equal to , and tan, which is equal to . To find cosine, the length of the

hypotenuse is needed, but it is not given. Eliminate the two choices that include cosine:

(C) and (D). Therefore, the answer will be either tan X or tan Y. Since , determine

which angle y is opposite and x is adjacent to. Look at the figure to see that this is Y,

which is (B). In the case of tan X, x is opposite the angle and y is adjacent to the angle, so

. This is not what the question asks for, so eliminate (A). The correct answer is

(B).
Medium
4. C

The question asks about a fractional part of a circle. For questions like this, use the

formula with the measure of the central angle in radians.

Since you’re literally looking for the fraction of the arc’s length to the circumference of the

circle, all that is needed to solve this problem is . Substitute the central

angle of into the formula to get . To solve , put the denominator

over 1 and multiply the numerator by the reciprocal of the denominator

. The correct answer is (C).

5. A

The question asks for sin(90° – y°). To answer this, use the formula cos x = sin(90° – x°).

Since , . The answer is (A). If you forget the formula, draw a

right triangle and label y and the sides you know given cos y. The side that measures 3

will be adjacent to y, and 5 is the hypotenuse.

Whatever y is, the top angle will be 90 – y, since there are 180° in a triangle. Therefore,

the sine of the top angle is . The correct answer is (A).

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6. B
 The question asks for the value of c in equations with x and y, and it says that sin x =
cos y. Use the fact that sin x = cos(90 – x). Therefore, y = 90 – x. The question also says
that x = 3c + 14 and y = 7c + 11. Substitute these into y = 90 – x to get 7c + 11 = 90 – (3c +
14). Distribute the negative to get 7c + 11 = 90 – 3c – 14. Simplify the right side to get 7c +
11 = 76 – 3c. Add 3c to both sides to get 10c + 11 = 76. Subtract 11 from both sides to get
10c = 65. Divide both sides by 10 to get c = 6.5. The answer is (B). If you forget this rule
about the complimentary angles in a right triangle, you can always use PITA. Starting
with (B), plug in 6.5 for c. The value of x = 3(6.5) + 14 = 19.5 + 14 = 33.5, and the value
of y = 7(6.5) + 11 = 45.5 + 11 = 56.5. Now, with your calculator in degree mode, see if sin
(33.5°) = cos (56.5°). It does, so the correct answer is (B).

7. A

The question asks for the value of sin Z. According to the question,
triangles PQR and XYZ are similar. Similar triangles, by definition, have congruent
corresponding angles. Since ∠Z corresponds to ∠R, ∠Z ≅ ∠R. Therefore, sin Z = sin R.
Since there is more information directly provided about triangle PQR than about
triangle XYZ, use this information to determine sin R, which will be equal to the answer.
Start by sketching triangle PQR.

The value of sin R is . The hypotenuse is 26. Determine the opposite side.

There are two ways to do this. One is to use the Pythagorean Theorem. However, since a

calculator is not allowed on this question, it may be difficult to do this with large

numbers. The other way is to notice that 24:26 = 12:13. Therefore, this is a 5:12:13 right

triangle with the sides multiplied by 2. PQ represents the 5 side, so PQ = 2 × 5 = 10.

Therefore, the opposite side is 10. Plug this in to get . Reduce the fraction by 2

to get . The correct answer is (A).

8. C

The question asks for the value of c, in inches. The value of c is part of the formula

. Because the Erlenmeyer flask can hold a maximum volume of 349 cubic

inches, substitute V = 349 to get . Solve for c. Multiply both sides by 108 to get
 37,692 = 13πc3. Divide both sides by 13 to get 2,899.38 ≈ πc3. Divide both sides by π to

get 922.9 ≈ c3. Take the cube root of both sides to get c ≈ 9.74. The correct answer is (C).

Hard
9. B

The question asks for the value of n, which is part of the radian measure of ∠XOY. Notice

that point X has a y-coordinate of . An instance of in a geometry question will

often be an indicator of a 30:60:90 right triangle. In the figure, draw a segment from

point X that is perpendicular to segment OY to form a right triangle. For reference, we’ll

call the point of intersection Z.

In the figure, OZ = 2 and . In a 30:60:90 right triangle, the sides opposite the
30° angle, the 60° angle, and the 90° angle, respectively, are in a ratio of . In this

triangle, that ratio is multiplied by 2. Since ∠XOY is opposite segment XZ, which has
measure , it is a 60° angle. Because the question asks for the measure in radians,

convert to radians using the proportion . Substitute 60° to get .

Cross-multiply to get 180r = 60π. Divide both sides by 180 to get . The

question says that the measure of ∠XOY is , so and n = 3. The correct answer is

(B).

10. D

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 The question asks what 1.5ab represents, but 1.5ab doesn’t actually appear directly in the

equation. The expression ab, however, does appear as part of the term . Notice that

. Therefore, the question is really asking for what the first term

represents. Why would the expression be multiplied by 3? The definition of surface

area is the sum of the areas of each face. Since there are 3 lateral faces, determine

whether represents the area of each face. The area of a triangle is . The base

of the lateral side is a and the height is b, so the area is . Since the area of

one lateral face is , the area of all three must add up to . The correct answer

is (D).

11. A

The question asks for the volume of an art installation. In order to determine this, find

the volume of the rectangular solid and each pyramid and get the sum. The rectangular

solid has dimensions 10 feet, 10 feet, and 20 feet. Therefore, the volume is V = lwh = (10)

(10)(20) = 2,000 ft3. Now determine the area of each pyramid. The base of the pyramid is

a 10 feet by 10 feet square. The height is 6 feet. Therefore, the volume of each pyramid

is V = lwh = (10)(10)(6) = 200 ft3. Therefore, the total volume of the art installation is

2,000 ft3 + 200 ft3 + 200 ft3 = 2,400 ft3. The correct answer is (A).

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