Question ID bcb66188

Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Math Geometry and Right triangles and

Trigonometry trigonometry

ID: bcb66188

Triangle is similar to triangle , where angle corresponds to angle and angles and are right angles.
If , what is the value of ?

A.

B.

C.

D.

ID: bcb66188 Answer

Correct Answer: B

Rationale
Choice B is correct. If two triangles are similar, then their corresponding angles are congruent. It's given that right triangle
is similar to right triangle and angle corresponds to angle . It follows that angle is congruent to angle
and, therefore, the measure of angle is equal to the measure of angle . The sine ratios of angles of equal measure
are equal. Since the measure of angle is equal to the measure of angle , . It's given that
. Therefore, is .

Choice A is incorrect. This is the value of , not the value of .

Choice C is incorrect. This is the reciprocal of the value of , not the value of .

Choice D is incorrect. This is the reciprocal of the value of , not the value of .

Question Difficulty: Medium

Question ID 33e29881
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Math Geometry and Right triangles and

Trigonometry trigonometry

ID: 33e29881

In right triangle , the sum of the measures of angle and angle is degrees. The value of is . What
is the value of ?

A.

B.

C.

D.

ID: 33e29881 Answer

Correct Answer: B

Rationale
Choice B is correct. The sine of any acute angle is equal to the cosine of its complement. It’s given that in right triangle
, the sum of the measures of angle and angle is degrees. Therefore, angle and angle are
complementary, and the value of is equal to the value of . It's given that the value of is , so the
value of is also .

Choice A is incorrect. This is the value of . Choice C is incorrect. This is the value of .

Choice D is incorrect. This is the value of .

Question Difficulty: Medium

Question ID 902dc959
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Math Geometry and Right triangles and

Trigonometry trigonometry

ID: 902dc959

In the figure above, what is the

value of ?

A.

B.

C.

D.

ID: 902dc959 Answer

Correct Answer: C

Rationale
Choice C is correct. Angle A is an acute angle in a right triangle, so the value of tan(A) is equivalent to the ratio of the
length of the side opposite angle A, 20, to the length of the nonhypotenuse side adjacent to angle A, 21. Therefore,

Choice A is incorrect. This is the value of sin(A). Choice B is incorrect. This is the value of cos(A). Choice D is incorrect.
This is the value of tan(B).

Question Difficulty: Medium

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 a4bd60a3
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Math Geometry and Right triangles and

Trigonometry trigonometry

ID: a4bd60a3

The perimeter of an equilateral triangle is centimeters. The height of this triangle is centimeters, where is a
constant. What is the value of ?

ID: a4bd60a3 Answer

Correct Answer: 104

Rationale
The correct answer is . An equilateral triangle is a triangle in which all three sides have the same length and all three
angles have a measure of . The height of the triangle, , is the length of the altitude from one vertex. The altitude
divides the equilateral triangle into two congruent 30-60-90 right triangles, where the altitude is the side across from the
angle in each 30-60-90 right triangle. Since the altitude has a length of , it follows from the properties of 30-60-
90 right triangles that the side across from each angle has a length of and each hypotenuse has a length of . In
this case, the hypotenuse of each 30-60-90 right triangle is a side of the equilateral triangle; therefore, each side length of
the equilateral triangle is . The perimeter of a triangle is the sum of the lengths of each side. It's given that the
perimeter of the equilateral triangle is ; therefore, , or . Dividing both sides of this
equation by yields .

Question Difficulty: Hard

Question ID de550be0
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Math Geometry and Right triangles and

Trigonometry trigonometry

ID: de550be0

For the triangle shown, which expression represents the value of ?

A.

B.

C.

D.

ID: de550be0 Answer

Correct Answer: A

Rationale
Choice A is correct. For the right triangle shown, the lengths of the legs are units and units, and the length of the
hypotenuse is units. The Pythagorean theorem states that in a right triangle, the sum of the squares of the lengths of
the two legs is equal to the square of the length of the hypotenuse. Therefore, . Subtracting from both
sides of this equation yields . Taking the square root of both sides of this equation yields
. Since is a length, must be positive. Therefore, . Thus, for the triangle shown,
represents the value of .

Choice B is incorrect. For the triangle shown, this expression represents the value of , not .

Choice C is incorrect and may result from conceptual errors. Choice D is incorrect and may result from conceptual errors.

Question Difficulty: Medium

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 ffe862a3
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Math Geometry and Right triangles and

Trigonometry trigonometry

ID: ffe862a3

An isosceles right triangle has a hypotenuse of length inches. What is the perimeter, in inches, of this triangle?

A.

B.

C.

D.

ID: ffe862a3 Answer

Correct Answer: C

Rationale
Choice C is correct. Since the triangle is an isosceles right triangle, the two sides that form the right angle must be the
same length. Let be the length, in inches, of each of those sides. The Pythagorean theorem states that in a right
triangle, , where is the length of the hypotenuse and and are the lengths of the other two sides.
Substituting for , for , and for in this equation yields , or . Dividing each side of this
equation by yields , or . Taking the square root of each side of this equation yields two solutions:
and . The value of must be positive because it represents a side length. Therefore, ,
or . The perimeter, in inches, of the triangle is , or . Substituting for in this
expression gives a perimeter, in inches, of , or .

Choice A is incorrect. This is the length, in inches, of each of the congruent sides of the triangle, not the perimeter, in
inches, of the triangle.

Choice B is incorrect. This is the sum of the lengths, in inches, of the congruent sides of the triangle, not the perimeter, in
inches, of the triangle.

Choice D is incorrect and may result from conceptual or calculation errors.

Question Difficulty: Hard

Question ID 568d66a7
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Math Geometry and Right triangles and

Trigonometry trigonometry

ID: 568d66a7

An isosceles right triangle has a perimeter of inches. What is the length, in inches, of one leg of this triangle?

A.

B.

C.

D.

ID: 568d66a7 Answer

Correct Answer: B

Rationale
Choice B is correct. It's given that the right triangle is isosceles. In an isosceles right triangle, the two legs have equal
lengths, and the length of the hypotenuse is times the length of one of the legs. Let 𝓁 represent the length, in inches,
of each leg of the isosceles right triangle. It follows that the length of the hypotenuse is 𝓁 inches. The perimeter of a
figure is the sum of the lengths of the sides of the figure. Therefore, the perimeter of the isosceles right triangle is
𝓁 𝓁 𝓁 inches. It's given that the perimeter of the triangle is inches. It follows that
𝓁 𝓁 𝓁 . Factoring the left-hand side of this equation yields 𝓁 , or

𝓁 . Dividing both sides of this equation by yields 𝓁 . Rationalizing the

denominator of the right-hand side of this equation by multiplying the right-hand side of the equation by yields

𝓁 . Applying the distributive property to the numerator and to the denominator of the right-hand side

of this equation yields 𝓁 . This is equivalent to 𝓁 , or 𝓁 . Therefore, the length,

in inches, of one leg of the isosceles right triangle is .

Choice A is incorrect and may result from conceptual or calculation errors.

Choice C is incorrect. This is the length, in inches, of the hypotenuse.

Choice D is incorrect and may result from conceptual or calculation errors.

Question Difficulty: Hard

Question ID 0e709a29
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Math Geometry and Right triangles and

Trigonometry trigonometry

ID: 0e709a29

The side lengths of right triangle are given. Triangle is similar to triangle , where corresponds to
and corresponds to . What is the value of ?

A.

B.

C.

D.

ID: 0e709a29 Answer

Correct Answer: D

Rationale
Choice D is correct. The hypotenuse of triangle is the longest side and is across from the right angle. The longest
side length given is , which is the length of side . Therefore, the hypotenuse of triangle is side , so the
right angle is angle . The tangent of an acute angle in a right triangle is the ratio of the length of the opposite side,
which is the side across from the angle, to the length of the adjacent side, which is the side closest to the angle that is
not the hypotenuse. It follows that the opposite side of angle is side and the adjacent side of angle is side .
Therefore, . Substituting for and for in this equation yields . This is
equivalent to . It’s given that triangle is similar to triangle , where corresponds to and
corresponds to . It follows that corresponds to . Therefore, the hypotenuse of triangle is side , which
means . Since the lengths of corresponding sides of similar triangles are proportional, .
Therefore, is equivalent to , or . Thus, .

Choice A is incorrect. This is the value of , not .

Choice B is incorrect. This is the value of , not . Choice C is incorrect. This is the value of , not .

Question Difficulty: Hard

Question ID f811d345
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Math Geometry and Right triangles and

Trigonometry trigonometry

ID: f811d345

A right triangle has legs with lengths of centimeters and centimeters. If the length of this triangle's hypotenuse, in
centimeters, can be written in the form , where is an integer, what is the value of ?

ID: f811d345 Answer

Correct Answer: 113

Rationale
The correct answer is . It's given that the legs of a right triangle have lengths centimeters and centimeters. In a
right triangle, the square of the length of the hypotenuse is equal to the sum of the squares of the lengths of the two legs.
It follows that if represents the length, in centimeters, of the hypotenuse of the right triangle, . This
equation is equivalent to . Taking the square root of each side of this equation yields . This
equation can be rewritten as , or . This equation is equivalent to . It's given
that the length of the triangle's hypotenuse, in centimeters, can be written in the form . It follows that the value of
is .

Question Difficulty: Hard

Question ID c9931030
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Math Geometry and Right triangles and

Trigonometry trigonometry

ID: c9931030

The side lengths of right triangle are given. Triangle is similar to triangle , where corresponds to
and corresponds to . What is the value of ?

A.

B.

C.

D.

ID: c9931030 Answer

Correct Answer: B

Rationale
Choice B is correct. It's given that right triangle is similar to triangle , where corresponds to and
corresponds to . It's given that the side lengths of the right triangle are , , and .
Corresponding angles in similar triangles are equal. It follows that the measure of angle is equal to the measure of
angle . The hypotenuse of a right triangle is the longest side. It follows that the hypotenuse of triangle is side
. The hypotenuse of a right triangle is the side opposite the right angle. Therefore, angle is a right angle. 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, . Substituting
for and for in this equation yields , or . The tangents of two acute angles with
equal measures are equal. Since the measure of angle is equal to the measure of angle , it follows that
. Substituting for in this equation yields . Therefore, the value of is
.

Choice A is incorrect. This is the value of . Choice C is incorrect. This is the value of .

Choice D is incorrect. This is the value of .

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 9ec76b54
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Math Geometry and Right triangles and

Trigonometry trigonometry

ID: 9ec76b54

A right triangle has legs with lengths of centimeters and centimeters. What is the length of this triangle's
hypotenuse, in centimeters?

A.

B.

C.

D.

ID: 9ec76b54 Answer

Correct Answer: B

Rationale
Choice B is correct. The Pythagorean theorem states that in a right triangle, the sum of the squares of the lengths of the
two legs is equal to the square of the length of the hypotenuse. It's given that the right triangle has legs with lengths of
centimeters and centimeters. Let represent the length of this triangle's hypotenuse, in centimeters. Therefore, by
the Pythagorean theorem, , or . Taking the positive square root of both sides of this equation
yields , or . Therefore, the length of this triangle's hypotenuse, in centimeters, is .

Choice A is incorrect and may result from conceptual or calculation errors.

Choice C is incorrect and may result from conceptual or calculation errors.

Choice D is incorrect. This is the square of the length of the triangle’s hypotenuse.

Question Difficulty: Medium

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 bf8d843e
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Math Geometry and Right triangles and

Trigonometry trigonometry

ID: bf8d843e

In above, what is the

length of ?

A. 4

B. 6

C.

D.

ID: bf8d843e Answer

Correct Answer: B

Rationale

Choice B is correct. Triangles ADB and CDB are both triangles and share . Therefore, triangles ADB
and CDB are congruent by the angle-side-angle postulate. Using the properties of triangles, the length

of is half the length of hypotenuse . Since the triangles are congruent, . So the length of is

Alternate approach: Since angle CBD has a measure of , angle ABC must have a measure of . It follows that
triangle ABC is equilateral, so side AC also has length 12. It also follows that the altitude BD is also a median, and
therefore the length of AD is half of the length of AC, which is 6.

Choice A is incorrect. If the length of were 4, then the length of would be 8. However, this is incorrect because

is congruent to , which has a length of 12. Choices C and D are also incorrect. Following the same procedures as

used to test choice A gives a length of for choice C and for choice D. However, these results cannot

be true because is congruent to , which has a length of 12.

Question Difficulty: Medium
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 a5aee181
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Math Geometry and Right triangles and

Trigonometry trigonometry

ID: a5aee181

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?

A.

B.

C.

D.

ID: a5aee181 Answer

Correct Answer: B

Rationale
Choice B is correct. A rectangle’s diagonal divides a rectangle into two congruent right triangles, where the diagonal is
the hypotenuse of both triangles. It’s given that the length of the diagonal is and the length of the rectangle’s
shorter side is . Therefore, each of the two right triangles formed by the rectangle’s diagonal has a hypotenuse with
length , and a shorter leg with length . To calculate the length of the longer leg of each right triangle, the
Pythagorean theorem, , can be used, where and are the lengths of the legs and is the length of the
hypotenuse of the triangle. Substituting for and for in the equation yields

, which is equivalent to , or . Subtracting from each side of

this equation yields . Taking the positive square root of each side of this equation yields . Therefore, the
length of the longer leg of each right triangle formed by the diagonal of the rectangle is . It follows that the length of
the rectangle’s longer side is .

Choice A is incorrect and may result from dividing the length of the rectangle’s diagonal by the length of the rectangle’s
shorter side, rather than substituting these values into the Pythagorean theorem.

Choice C is incorrect and may result from using the length of the rectangle’s diagonal as the length of a leg of the right
triangle, rather than the length of the hypotenuse.

Choice D is incorrect. This is the square of the length of the rectangle’s longer side.

Question Difficulty: Medium

Question ID ae041e52
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Math Geometry and Right triangles and

Trigonometry trigonometry

ID: ae041e52

A square is inscribed in a circle. The radius of the circle is inches. What is the side length, in inches, of the square?

A.

B.

C.

D.

ID: ae041e52 Answer

Correct Answer: A

Rationale
Choice A is correct. When a square is inscribed in a circle, a diagonal of the square is a diameter of the circle. It's given
that a square is inscribed in a circle and the length of a radius of the circle is inches. Therefore, the length of a
diameter of the circle is inches, or inches. It follows that the length of a diagonal of the square is
inches. A diagonal of a square separates the square into two right triangles in which the legs are the sides of the square
and the hypotenuse is a diagonal. Since a square has congruent sides, each of these two right triangles has congruent
legs and a hypotenuse of length inches. Since each of these two right triangles has congruent legs, they are both
- - triangles. In a - - triangle, the length of the hypotenuse is times the length of a leg. Let represent
the length of a leg of one of these - - triangles. It follows that . Dividing both sides of this
equation by yields . Therefore, the length of a leg of one of these - - triangles is inches. Since the
legs of these two - - triangles are the sides of the square, it follows that the side length of the square is inches.

Choice B is incorrect. This is the length of a radius, in inches, of the circle.

Choice C is incorrect. This is the length of a diameter, in inches, of the circle.

Choice D is incorrect and may result from conceptual or calculation errors.

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 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 13d9a1c3
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Math Geometry and Right triangles and

Trigonometry trigonometry

ID: 13d9a1c3

In the right triangle shown above, what

is the length of ?

ID: 13d9a1c3 Answer

Rationale
The correct answer is 4. Triangle PQR has given angle measures of 30° and 90°, so the third angle must be 60° because
the measures of the angles of a triangle sum to 180°. For any special right triangle with angles measuring 30°, 60°, and
90°, the length of the hypotenuse (the side opposite the right angle) is 2x, where x is the length of the side opposite the
30° angle. Segment PQ is opposite the 30° angle. Therefore, 2(PQ) = 8 and PQ = 4.

Question Difficulty: Medium

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 8027db3f
Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty

SAT Math Geometry and Right triangles and

Trigonometry trigonometry

ID: 8027db3f

In triangle , and angle is a right angle. What is the value of ?

ID: 8027db3f Answer

Correct Answer: .8823, .8824, 15/17

Rationale
The correct answer is . It's given that angle is the right angle in triangle . Therefore, the acute angles of
triangle are angle and angle . The hypotenuse of a right triangle is the side opposite its right angle. Therefore,
the hypotenuse of triangle is side . The cosine of an acute angle in a right triangle is the ratio of the length of
the side adjacent to the angle to the length of the hypotenuse. It's given that . This can be written as
. Since the cosine of angle is a ratio, it follows that the length of the side adjacent to angle is and
the length of the hypotenuse is , where is a constant. Therefore, and . The Pythagorean
theorem states that in a right triangle, the square of the length of the hypotenuse is equal to the sum of the squares of
the lengths of the other two sides. For triangle , it follows that . Substituting for
and for yields . This is equivalent to . Subtracting
from each side of this equation yields . Taking the square root of each side of this equation yields
. Since , it follows that , which can be rewritten as . Note that
15/17, .8824, .8823, and 0.882 are examples of ways to enter a correct answer.

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