About the Quantitative Section

The math concepts tested on the GMAT® Quantitative section basically consist of arithmetic, algebra, and
geometry. Questions of each type will be mixed throughout the session, and many of the questions will require
you to use more than just one concept in order to solve it. The majority of the questions will need to be solved
using arithmetic. This area of mathematics includes the basic operations of numbers (addition, subtraction,
multiplication, and division), properties and types of numbers, number theory, and counting problems.
Algebra will also be included in a good portion of the section. Topics include using polynomials, com-
bining like terms, using laws of exponents, solving linear and quadratic equations, solving inequalities, and
simplifying rational expressions.
Geometric concepts will appear in many of the questions and may be integrated with other concepts.
These concepts require the knowledge and application of polygons, plane figures, right triangles, and formulas
for determining the area, perimeter, volume, and surface area of an object. Each of these concepts will be dis-
cussed in detail in Chapter 22.
A portion of the questions will appear in a word-problem format with graphs, logic problems, and other
discrete math areas scattered throughout the section. Remember that a few of the questions are experimental
and will not be counted in your final score; however, you will not be able to tell which questions are
experimental.
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About the
Quantitative
Section
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The Quantitative section tests your overall understanding of basic math concepts. The math presented
in this section will be comparable to what you encountered in middle school and high school, and the ques-
tion level may seem similar to that on the SAT
®
exam or ACT Assessment
®
. Even though the questions are
presented in different formats, reviewing some fundamental topics will be very helpful. This section tests your
ability to use critical thinking and reasoning skills to solve quantitative problems.You will want to review how

to solve equations, how to simplify radicals, and how to calculate the volume of a cube. However, the major-
ity of the questions will also ask you to take the problem one step further to assess how well you apply and
reason through the material.
The two types of questions in the Quantitative section are problem solving and data sufficiency. You have
already seen both types of questions in the pretest. Each type will be explained in more detail in the next
section.

About the Types of Questions
The two types of questions
—
problem solving and data sufficiency
—
each contains five answer choices. Both
types of questions will be scattered throughout the section. Problem solving questions test your basic knowl-
edge of math concepts
—
what you should have learned in middle school and high school. Most of these ques-
tions will ask you to take this existing knowledge and apply it to various situations. You will need to use
reasoning skills to analyze the questions and determine the correct solutions. The majority of the questions
will contain a multistep procedure. When answering problem-solving questions, try to eliminate improba-
ble answers first to increase your chances of selecting the correct solution.
A Sample Problem Solving Question
Directions: Solve the problem and choose the letter indicating the best answer choice. The numbers used in
this section are real numbers. The figures used are drawn to scale and lie in a plane unless otherwise noted.
Given integers as the lengths of the sides of a triangle, what is the maximum perimeter of a triangle
where two of the sides measure 10 and 14?
a. 27
b. 28
c. 48
d. 47

e. 52
Answer: d. Use the triangle inequality, which states that the sum of the two smaller sides of a triangle
must be greater than the measure of the third side. By adding the two known sides of 10 + 14 = 24,
this gives a maximum value of 23 for the third side because the side must be an integer. Since the
perimeter of a polygon is the sum of its sides, the maximum perimeter must be 10 + 14 + 23 = 47.
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The other type of question in this section is data sufficiency. Data sufficiency questions give an initial
question or statement followed by two statements labeled (1) and (2). Given the initial information, you must
determine whether the statements offer enough data to solve the problem. The five possible answer choices
are as follows:
a. Statement (1), BY ITSELF, will suffice to solve the problem, but NOT statement (2) by itself.
b. Statement (2), BY ITSELF, will suffice to solve the problem, but NOT statement (1) by itself.
c. The problem can be solved using statement (1) and statement (2) TOGETHER, but not ONLY
statement (1) or statement (2).
d. The problem can be solved using EITHER statement (1) only or statement (2) only.
e. The problem CANNOT be solved using statement (1) and statement (2) TOGETHER.
This type of question measures the test taker’s ability to examine and interpret a quantitative problem
and distinguish between pertinent and irrelevant information. To solve this particular type of problem, the
test taker will have to be able to determine at what point there is enough data to solve a problem. Since these
questions are seldom used outside of the GMAT exam, it is important to familiarize yourself with the for-
mat and strategies used with this type of question as much as possible before taking the exam.
Strategies can be used when answering data sufficiency questions. For example, start off by trying to
solve the question solely by using statement (1). If statement (1) contains enough information to do so, then
your only choice is between a (statement [1] only) or d (each statement alone contains enough information).
If statement (1) is not enough information to answer the question, your choices boil down to b (statement
[2] only), c (the statements need to be used together), or e (the problem cannot be solved using the infor-
mation from both statements, and more information is needed).

A Sample Data Sufficiency Question
Directions: The following problem contains a question followed by two statements. Select your answer using
the data in statement (1) and statement (2) and determine whether they provide enough information to
answer the initial question. If you are asked for the value of a quantity, the information is sufficient when it
is possible to determine only one value for the quantity.
a. Statement (1), BY ITSELF, will suffice to solve the problem, but NOT statement (2) by itself.
b. Statement (2), BY ITSELF, will suffice to solve the problem, but NOT statement (1) by itself.
c. The problem can be solved using statement (1) and statement (2) TOGETHER, but not ONLY
statement (1) or statement (2).
d. The problem can be solved using EITHER statement (1) only or statement (2) only.
e. The problem CANNOT be solved using statement (1) and statement (2) TOGETHER.
The numbers used are real numbers. If a figure accompanies a question, the figure will be drawn to scale
according to the original question or information, but it will not necessarily be consistent with the infor-
mation given in statements (1) and (2).
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If x is a nonzero integer, is x positive?
(1) x
2
is positive.
(2) x
3
is positive.
Answer: b. Substitute possible numbers for x.Ifx ϭ 2, then (2)
2
ϭ 4. If x ϭϪ2, then (Ϫ2)
2
ϭ 4, so state-

ment (1) is not sufficient. Substituting into statement (2), if x ϭϪ2, then (Ϫ2)
3
ϭ (Ϫ2)(Ϫ2)(Ϫ2) ϭϪ8; the
value is negative. If x ϭ 2, then 2
3
ϭ 2 ϫ 2 ϫ 2 ϭ 8; the value is positive. Therefore, from statement (2), x is
positive.
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