{"id":9930,"date":"2017-05-10t13:23:06","date_gmt":"2017-05-10t20:23:06","guid":{"rendered":"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/?p=9930"},"modified":"2021-01-06t15:41:21","modified_gmt":"2021-01-06t23:41:21","slug":"hard-act-math-problems","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/act\/hard-act-math-problems\/","title":{"rendered":"hard act math problems"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/p>\n
if you’re wondering why hard act math<\/a> problems are so difficult, know that it’s not because they test crazy advanced topics like multivariable calculus or anything like that. instead, it’s because they take some of the foundations of math topics you’ve already studied in school, like pre-algebra, algebra, and geometry, and turn them into multi-step processes that may combine concepts from different areas.<\/p>\n does this make them challenging? yep. does it mean you can’t solve them? absolutely not! to master these problems, you’ll need to refresh your understanding of the concepts, then put them into practice.<\/p>\n think you’re ready to put your skills to the test? check out the twelve act math<\/a> challenge problems we’ve put together for you below. answers and explanations follow!<\/p>\n want to make sure you’ve mastered the trickiest concepts in all areas? for act challenge problems from other act sections<\/a>, check out:<\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n 1. let x<\/em> and y<\/em> be nonzero real numbers such that 2(y+1)<\/sup>=2x<\/em>. which of the following expresses 2(y+2)<\/sup>in terms of x<\/em>?<\/p>\n a. 1\/(2x<\/em>3<\/sup>) 2. as shown in the figure below, a is the center of the circle, and right triangle abc intersects the circle at d and e. point d is the midpoint of ac, which is 22 cm long. the shaded region inside the circle and outside the triangle has an area of square centimeters. what is the measure of angle b?<\/p>\n <\/p>\n a. 45\u00b0 3. a box contains 50 cards. is written on the first card, on the second, on the third and so on through , with no numbers repeated. a card is drawn at random from the box. what is the probability that the number on the card is an irrational number?<\/p>\n a. 0\/50 4. which of the following is an equation of the largest circle that can be inscribed in the ellipse with the following equation? a. (x<\/em>-2)2<\/sup> + (y<\/em>+4)2<\/sup> = 81 5. what would s <\/strong>have to be so that is divisible by (x + 2)? 6. in a geometric sequence in which all of the terms are positive, the second term is 2 and the fourth term is 10. what is the value of the seventh term in the sequence?<\/p>\n a. 10\u221a5 7. suzanne drove 40 miles to see her aunt and was going 20 mph. it took her 2 hours to get to her aunt\u2019s house. then, she left and drove another 30 miles to the pet store, but this time only drove at 10 mph. if it took suzanne 3 hours to arrive at the pet store, what was her average speed in miles per hour for the entire car ride from her home to the pet store?<\/p>\n a. 10 8. students at thomas jefferson high school boarded the bus for a field trip that went 15mph through a 30 mile section of the city. the bus then stopped for lunch in a suburb before continuing on a 3 hour tour of countryside at a constant speed of 10mph. finally, the bus drove 40 miles straight back to the high school. if the students arrived back at thomas jefferson high school two\u00a0hours later, approximately what was the average speed for the entire field trip?<\/p>\n a. 11 9. if sin = – , which of the following could be true about ?<\/p>\n a. 0 < < \/3 10. the graph below shows a function graphed in the standard (, ) plane. which of the following could be the equation of the function?<\/p>\n a. <\/p>\n <\/p>\n 11. the function m(n) is defined by . which of the following is the value of m(m(n))?<\/p>\n a. -n9<\/sup> 12. the function values for p(x) vary directly as x for all real numbers. which of the following best describes the graph of y = p(x) in the standard (x,y) coordinate plane?<\/i><\/p>\n f. a line with a y-intercept of 0. 1. answer: c<\/strong> let\u2019s talk about the test prep strategy way first.<\/strong> you see, this problem is a great candidate for plugging in numbers for x<\/em> and y<\/em> and seeing what works.<\/p>\n let\u2019s try y = 3.<\/p>\n therefore 2y+1<\/sup>=2x<\/em> becomes<\/p>\n 23+1<\/sup>=2x<\/em> so now we have a corresponding value for x<\/em>.<\/p>\n when y<\/em>=3, the expression in the question 2y+2<\/sup> equals 32. so now we have the numerical answer we are looking for in the answer choices, expressed in terms of x<\/em> (which we determined equals 8.<\/p>\n so, plugging in 8 for x<\/em>, the answer choice equivalents would be:<\/p>\n a. 1\/1024 …making our answer c.<\/p>\n now let’s talk about the math way<\/strong>:<\/p>\n using the exponent rule x<\/em>m<\/sup> x<\/em>n<\/sup>=x<\/em>m+n<\/sup>, we know that<\/p>\n 2y+1<\/sup>=2y<\/sup> 21<\/sup><\/p>\n so we can simplify the given equation<\/p>\n 2y+1<\/sup>=2x<\/em> 2y+2<\/sup> would then be since we found that x<\/em>=2y<\/sup> we can sub in x<\/em> for2y<\/sup> in the expression above and get our answer: c: 2.answer: e<\/strong><\/p>\n the act rarely gives you any unnecessary information in a math word problem. this means that all of the details in the question give you important clues that you need to solve the problem. here\u2019s another important tip: whenever you are dealing with circles, and you aren\u2019t given the radius, your first step should be to find<\/em> the radius. the radius is the key to unlocking other important circle things, such as the area, circumference, sector area, or arc length.<\/p>\n in the case of this question, we know that ac is 22 cm, that d is the midpoint of ac, and that d serves as a point of intersection between the circle and the triangle. this means that ad is the radius and should be half of 22 cm, or 11 cm. knowing that 11 cm is the radius allows us to find the area of the entire circle using the equation .<\/p>\n so: we are told in the problem that the area of the shaded region is . this means that the area of the unshaded sector of the circle inside the triangle must be , since these two regions must add up to the total area of the circle: .<\/p>\n this information helps us find the fraction of the circle delimited by the triangle. because a sector is a fraction of a circle, we can use the proportion of the area of the sector to the area of entire circle to find the degree measure of the central angle.<\/p>\n because every circle has 360 degrees: solving this proportion to find angle a gives us x = 32.727272 repeating, or approximately 33\u00b0.<\/p>\n since we know one of the other angles of the triangle is 90\u00b0, we can find the measure of the remaining angle, angle b, by subtracting the two known angles from 180\u00b0 (since the angles in a triangle always add up to 180\u00b0).<\/p>\n 180 \u2013 90 \u2013 33 = 57<\/p>\n\n
\nb. 1\/(2x<\/em>+3)
\nc. 4x<\/em>
\nd. 8x<\/em>
\ne. 2x<\/em>3<\/sup><\/p>\n
\nb. 48\u00b0
\nc. 50\u00b0
\nd. 54\u00b0
\ne. 57\u00b0<\/p>\n
\nb. 7\/50
\nc. 25\/50
\nd. 35\/50
\ne. 43\/50<\/p>\n
\n<\/p>\n
\nb. (x<\/em>-2)2<\/sup> + (y<\/em>+4)2<\/sup> = 16
\nc. (x<\/em>-2)2<\/sup> + (y<\/em>+4)2<\/sup> = 9
\nd. x<\/em>2<\/sup> + y<\/em>2<\/sup> = 16
\ne. x<\/em>2<\/sup> + y<\/em>2<\/sup> = 9<\/p>\n
\na. 9
\nb. 5
\nc. 2
\nd.-6
\ne.-13<\/p>\n
\nb. 20
\nc. 50
\nd. 50\u221a5
\ne. 250<\/p>\n
\nb. 11
\nc. 12
\nd. 14
\ne. 15<\/p>\n
\nb. 12
\nc. 13
\nd. 14
\ne. 15<\/p>\n
\nb. \/4 < < \/2
\nc. \/3 < <
\nd. \/6 < < \/6
\ne. \/3 < < <\/p>\n
\nb.
\nc.
\nd.
\ne. \/<\/p>\n
\nb. -n6<\/sup>
\nc. n3<\/sup>
\nd. n6<\/sup>
\ne. n9<\/sup><\/p>\n
\ng. a line with a y-intercept not at 0.
\nh. a line with no y-intercept.
\nj. a hyperbola.
\nk. neither a line nor a hyperbola.<\/p>\nanswers and explanations<\/h2>\n
\nthere are two ways to solve this problem: the \u201cmath\u201d way and the \u201ctest prep strategy\u201d way.<\/p>\n
\n24<\/sup>=2x<\/em>
\n16=2x<\/em>
\n8=x<\/em><\/p>\n
\nb. 1\/19
\nc. 32
\nd. 64
\ne. 1024<\/p>\n
\n2y<\/sup> 21<\/sup>=2x<\/em>
\n2y<\/sup>=x<\/em><\/p>\n
\n2y<\/sup> 22<\/sup>
\n4(2y<\/sup>)<\/p>\n
\n4x<\/em>.<\/strong><\/p>\n
\n
\n<\/p>\n
\n = <\/p>\n