MathHandbook

ofFormulas,ProcessesandTricks
(www.mathguy.us)

PreAlgebra

Preparedby:EarlL.Whitney,FSA,MAAA

Version2.4

April2,2017

Copyright20102017,EarlWhitney,RenoNV.AllRightsReserved
 PreAlgebra Handbook
Table of Contents

Blue=DevelopedspecificallyforPreAlgebraHandbook
Green=AlsoincludedinAlgebraHandbook
Purple=AlsoIncludedinGeometryHandbook

Page Description

Chapter1:Numbers
8 DivisibilityRules(2to12)
9 PrimeNumbers
10 PrimeFactorTrees
11 MoreaboutPrimeNumbers
12 GCDandLCM(GreatestCommonDivisor)
13 GCDandLCM(LeastCommonMultiple,LowestCommonDenominator)
14 FindingAllFactors(Divisors)
15 FindingAllFactors,aSecondApproach
16 RomanNumerals

Chapter2:MeasuresandWeights
17 MetricMeasuresandWeights
18 MeasuresandWeightsU.S.Conversions
19 MeasuresandWeightsU.S./MetricConversions

Chapter3:Operations
20 OrderofOperations
21 BasicPropertiesofAlgebra(e.g.,Distributive)
22 LinearPatterns(Recognition,ConvertingtoanEquation)
23 OperatingwithRealNumbers(AbsoluteValue,+,,x,)

Chapter4:FractionsandDecimals
24 AddingandSubtractingFractions
25 MultiplyingandDividingFractions
26 MixedNumbersandImproperFractions
27 AddingandSubtractingMixedNumbers
28 MultiplyingMixedNumbers
29 DividingMixedNumbers
30 DecimalCalculations
31 ComparingNumbers
CoverartbyRebeccaWilliams,
32 RoundingNumbers
Twitterhandle:@jolteonkitty

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 PreAlgebra Handbook
Table of Contents

Page Description

Chapter5:Percents
33 ConversionsofPercentstoDecimalsandFractions
34 TableofDecimalConversions
35 ApplyingaPercentIncrease
36 ApplyingaPercentDecrease
37 CalculatingPercentIncreasesandDecreases
38 PieCharts

Chapter6:ExponentsandRoots
39 EstimatingSquareRoots
40 RootsofLargeNumbers
41 ExponentFormulas
42 Powersof10
43 ScientificNotation(Format,Conversion)
44 AddingandSubtractingwithScientificNotation
45 MultiplyingandDividingwithScientificNotation

Chapter7:EquationsandInequalities
46 GraphingwithCoordinates(CartesianCoordinates,PlottingPoints)
47 ChangingWordstoMathematicalExpressions
48 SolvingOneStepEquations
49 SolvingMultiStepEquations
50 TipsandTricksforSolvingMultiStepEquations
51 SolvingforaVariable
52 Inequalities
53 GraphsofInequalitiesinOneDimension
54 CompoundInequalitiesinOneDimension

Chapter8:LinearFunctions
55 tCharts
56 SlopeofaLine(MathematicalDefinition)
57 SlopeofaLine(RiseoverRun)
58 SlopesofVariousLines(8Variations)
59 VariousFormsofaLine(Standard,SlopeIntercept,PointSlope)
60 SlopesofParallelandPerpendicularLines

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 PreAlgebra Handbook
Table of Contents

Page Description

Chapter9:ProbabilityandStatistics
61 ProbabilityandOdds
62 ProbabilitywithDice
63 Mean,Median,Mode,Range
64 StemandLeafPlots
65 BoxandWhiskerGraphs

Chapter10:GeometryBasics
66 DistanceBetweenPoints(1Dimensional,2Dimensional)
67 Angles
68 TypesofAngles
69 ParallelLinesandTransversals

Chapter11:Triangles
70 WhatMakesaTriangle?
71 TypesofTriangles(Scalene,Isosceles,Equilateral,Right)
72 PythagoreanTheorem
73 PythagoreanTriples
74 RatiosandProportions
75 SimilarTriangles
76 ProportionTablesforSimilarTriangles

Chapter12:Quadrilaterals
77 DefinitionsofQuadrilaterals
78 FiguresofQuadrilaterals
79 CharacteristicsofParallelograms
80 KitesandTrapezoids

Chapter13:Transformations
81 IntroductiontoTransformation
83 Reflection
84 Rotation
85 Translation
86 Compositions

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 PreAlgebra Handbook
Table of Contents

Page Description

Chapter14:Polygons
87 PolygonsBasic(Definitions,NamesofCommonPolygons)
88 PolygonsMoreDefinitions(Definitions,DiagonalsofaPolygon)
89 InteriorandExteriorAnglesofaPolygon

Chapter15:Perimeter,AreaandVolume
90 PerimeterandAreaofaTriangle
91 PerimeterandAreaofQuadrilaterals
92 CircleLengthsandAreas
93 Prisms
94 Cylinders
95 SurfaceAreabyDecomposition
96 Pyramids
97 Cones
98 Spheres
99 SummaryofPerimeterandAreaFormulas2DShapes
100 SummaryofSurfaceAreaandVolumeFormulas3DShapes

AppendixTables
101 AdditionTable
102 MultiplicationTable

103 Index

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 PreAlgebra Handbook
Table of Contents

UsefulWebsites
WolframMathWorldPerhapsthepremiersiteformathematicsontheWeb.Thissitecontains
definitions,explanationsandexamplesforelementaryandadvancedmathtopics.
http://mathworld.wolfram.com/

PurpleMathAgreatsitefortheAlgebrastudent,itcontainslessons,reviewsandhomework
guidelines.Thesitealsohasananalysisofyourstudyhabits.TaketheMathStudySkillsSelf
Evaluationtoseewhereyouneedtoimprove.
http://www.purplemath.com/

Math.comHasalotofinformationaboutAlgebra,includingagoodsearchfunction.
http://www.math.com/homeworkhelp/Algebra.html

Algebra.comHasshortdescriptionsanddemonstrationsforawidevarietyofAlgebratopics.
http://www.algebra.com/

MathLeagueSpecializesinmathcontests,books,andcomputersoftwareforstudentsfromthe
4thgradethroughhighschool.
http://www.mathleague.com/help/geometry/geometry.htm

Version 2.4 Page 6 of 107 April 2, 2017

 PreAlgebra Handbook
Table of Contents

SchaumsOutlines
AnimportantstudentresourceforanyhighschoolmathstudentisaSchaumsOutline.Eachbook
inthisseriesprovidesexplanationsofthevarioustopicsinthecourseandasubstantialnumberof
problemsforthestudenttotry.Manyoftheproblemsareworkedoutinthebook,sothestudent
canseeexamplesofhowtheyshouldbesolved.

SchaumsOutlinesareavailableatAmazon.com,Barnes&Noble,Bordersandotherbooksellers.

Note: This study guide was prepared to be a companion to most books on the subject of High
School Algebra. In particular, I used the following texts to determine which subjects to include
in this guide.
Algebra 1 , by James Schultz, Paul Kennedy, Wade Ellis Jr, and Kathleen Hollowelly.
Algebra 2 , by James Schultz, Wade Ellis Jr, Kathleen Hollowelly, and Paul Kennedy.
Geometry , by Ron Larson, Laurie Boswell, and Lee Stiff
Although a significant effort was made to make the material in this study guide original, some
material from these texts was used in the preparation of the study guide.

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 PreAlgebra
DivisibilityRules

Thefollowingrulescanbeusedtodeterminewhetheranumberisdivisiblebyothernumbers.
Thisisparticularlyusefulinreducingfractionstolowesttermsbecausetherulescanbeusedto
testwhetherboththenumeratoranddenominatoraredivisiblebythesamenumber.

n Anumberisdivisiblebynifandonlyif: Examples

16(evenbecauseitendina6)
2 Itiseven,i.e.,ifitendsin0,2,4,6or8.
948(evenbecauseitendsinan8)

Thesumofitsdigitsisdivisibleby3.Youmay 42(4+2=6)
3
applythistestmultipletimesifnecessary. 948(9+4+8=21,then2+1=3)

Thenumberformedbyitslast2digitsis 332(324=8)
4
divisibleby4. 1,908(084=2)

905(endsina5)
5 Itendsina0or5.
384,140(endsina0)

36(itisevenand3+6=9)
6 Itisdivisiblebyboth2and3.
948(itisevenand9+4+8=21)

Doublethelastdigitandsubtractitfromthe 868(86[28]=70,and707=10)
7 restofthenumber.Iftheresultisdivisibleby7, 2,345(234[25]=224,thenapply
soistheoriginalnumber.Youmayapplythis
again:22[24]=14,and147=2)
testmultipletimesifnecessary.

Thenumberformedbyitslast3digitsis 92,104(1048=13)
8
divisibleby8. 727,520(5208=65)

Thesumofitsdigitsisdivisibleby9.Youmay 2,385(2+3+8+5=18,then1+8=9)
9
applythistestmultipletimesifnecessary. 89,487(8+9+4+8+7=36,then3+6=9)

370(endsina0)
10 Itendsina0.
345,890(endsina0)

11 Thealternatingsumanddifferenceofitsdigits 374(37+4=0)
isdivisibleby11. 9,482(94+82=11)

996(9+9+6=24and964=24)
12 Itisdivisiblebyboth3and4.
1,344(1+3+4+4=12and444=11)

Note:0isdivisiblebyeverynumberexceptitself.

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 PreAlgebra
PrimeNumbers

Definitions
Aprimenumberisanaturalnumber(i.e.,apositiveinteger)thathasnofactorsotherthan1
anditself.Theprimenumberslessthan50are:
, , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Acompositenumberisanaturalnumberthatisnotprime.

PrimeFactorization
Everynaturalnumberhasauniqueprimefactorization.Thismeansthatifyoufactorthe
numberuntilallyouhaveleftareprimenumbers,thereisonlyonerepresentationofthe
numberinthisform(ignoringtheorderofthefactors).Bymathematicalconvention,theprime
factorizationofanumberisexpressedasaproductofitsprimefactorsinnumericalorder,from
lowtohigh,withexponentsonfactorsthatarerepeated.
Examples: 40 2 5 330 2 3 5 11 637 7 13

DerivingaPrimeFactorization
Note:Inaprime
Toderivetheuniqueprimefactorizationofanumbern:
factorization,allof
Dividethenumberby2asmanytimesas2willgointothenumber. thefactorswillbe
Moveuptothenextprimenumberandrepeattheprocess. lessthan .
Repeatthepreviousstepuntilallofthefactorsareprime.

Examples:Findtheprimefactorizationsof336,1000,and2160.

336 2 168 1000 2 500 2160 2 1080

2 2 84 2 2 250 2 2 540
2 2 2 42 2 2 2 125 2 2 2 270
2 2 2 2 21 2 2 2 5 25 2 2 2 2 135
2 2 2 2 3 7 2 2 2 5 5 5 2 2 2 2 3 45
2 3 7 2 5 2 2 2 2 3 3 15
2 2 2 2 3 3 3 5
2 3 5

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 PreAlgebra
PrimeFactorTrees

WhatisaPrimeFactorTree?
APrimeFactorTreeisadevicethatcanbeusedtofindtheprimefactorsofanumber.Even
thougheachnumberhasauniquesetofprimefactors,mostnumbersdonothaveaunique
primefactortree.Thenicethingaboutatreeisthatyoucanworkwithanyfactorsofthe
number,andbythetimeyouhavefinished,youhavefounditsuniquesetofprimefactors.

Todevelopaprimefactortree:
Writethenumbertobefactoredatthetopofthetree.
Beneaththenumber,writeapairoffactorsthatmultiplytogetthenumber.
Repeattheabovestepuntilallofthefactorsareprime.
Itisusefultoidentifytheprimefactorsyoudevelopinsomemanner,likecirclingthem.
Collectalloftheprimefactorstoobtaintheprimefactorizationofthenumber.

Examples:

OnePrimeFactorTreefor120 AnotherPrimeFactorTreefor120

120 120

1210 430

4325 2256

22 23

Inbothcases,theprimefactorizationof120isdeterminedtobe:
Noticethatthetwotreesintheexamplesobtainthesameresulteventhoughtheytake
differentpathstogetthatresult.Otherpathsarepossibleaswell.Theimportantthingisthe
result,notthepath.

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 PreAlgebra
MoreaboutPrimeNumbers

InterestingFactsaboutPrimes
1isdefinedtonotbeprime.
2istheonlyevenprime(2divideseveryotherevennumber).
Thereareaninfinitenumberofprimenumbers.
Largeprimenumbersformthebasisofcomputerencryptionroutinesusedbybanksand
othersontheinternet.

PrimeTesting
Inordertodetermineifanumberisprime,itisonlynecessarytotrydividingitbyprimesless
thanitssquareroot.Thatisbecause:
Ifacompositenumberisafactor,thenasmallerprimenumberisafactor.
Ifanumberlargerthanitssquarerootisafactor,thenanumberlessthanitssquare
rootisafactor.

Example:Testwhether79isprime.
Yourfirstinclinationmightbetothinkyouneedtotesteverynumberlessthan79asadivisor
of79.However,fromtheaboverule,itisonlynecessarytotest2,3,5,and7;79 9,soonly
primesbelow9mustbetestedasfactors.Thatsalotlessworkandmuchmoreefficientuseof
yourtime.Sincenoneofthefactorsdivide79,itisprime.

TheSieveofEratosthenes
AmethodforfindingprimenumberswasinventedbyanancientGreekmathematicianfrom
CyrenenamedEratosthenes.Hecreatedatableofnumbersandbeganstrikingoutmultiplesof
primenumbers.Hereisanexampleoutto25.Ifthetablewerelarger,wewouldneedtostrike
outmultiplesofmoreprimes(allprimes ,wherenisthelargestnumberinthetable).

Strikeoutmultiplesof2Strikeoutmultiplesof3Strikeoutmultiplesof5

2,3,4,5, 2,3,4,5, 2,3,4,5,

Thenumbersremaining,
6,7,8,9,10, 6,7,8,9,10, 6,7,8,9,10,
aftermultiplesofall
11,12,13,14,15, 11,12,13,14,15, 11,12,13,14,15, primesarestruckout,
16,17,18,19,20, 16,17,18,19,20, 16,17,18,19,20, areprime.

21,22,23,24,25 21,22,23,24,25 21,22,23,24,25

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 PreAlgebra
GCDandLCM

SimplemethodsforfindingtheGreatestCommonDivisor(GCD)andtheLeastCommon
Multiple(LCM)arerelated,asshownbelow.Bothinvolvedevelopingatableofprimefactors
forthenumbersinquestion.Themethodsarebestillustratedbyexample.

GreatestCommonDivisor(GCD)

ExampleA:FindtheGCDof180and105.

Step1:Calculatetheprimefactorsofeachnumberandenterthemintoasmalltable:

180=2x2x3x3x5 Step2: Lineuptheprimefactorssothatthosecommon

105=3x5x7 toallofthenumbersareinthesamecolumn.
GCD= 3x5 Step3: Bringanyfactorsthatshowupforevery

number(i.e.,thatfillthecolumn)belowtheline.
So,GCD=3x5=15.
Step4: Multiplyallofthenumbersbelowtheline
toobtaintheGCD.

ExampleB:FindtheGCDof140,210and462.

140=2x2x5x7
CalculatingaNumbersPrimeFactors
210=2x3x5x7
462=2x3x7x11 Inordertocalculatetheprimefactorsofanumber,
GCD=2x7 simplybegindividingitbyprimes,startingwith2
andworkinghigheruntilallfactorsareprimes.
So,GCD=2x7=14.
Examples:Findtheprimefactorsof

462 180
ExampleC:FindtheGCDof32and27.
462=2x231 180=2x90
32=2x2x2x2x2 =2x3x77 180=2x2x45
27=3x3x3 =2x3x7x11 180=2x2x3x15
GCD=(therearenocommonfactors) 180=2x2x3x3x5

So,GCD=1.

Ifnocommonprimefactorsexist,GCD=1andthenumbersaresaidtoberelativelyprime.
Since27and32havenocommonprimefactors,theyarerelativelyprime.

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 PreAlgebra
GCDandLCM

LeastCommonMultiple(LCM)
ExampleA:FindtheLCMof12and18.

Step1:Calculatetheprimefactorsofeachnumberandenterthemintoasmalltable:

Step2: Lineuptheprimefactorssothatthosecommon
12=2x2x3
to all of the numbers are in the same column.
18=2x3x3
LCM=2x2x3x3 Step3: Bringonefactorfromeverycolumnbelow
theline.
SotheLCM=2x2x3x3=36 Step4: Multiplyallofthenumbersbelowtheline
to obtain the LCM.

ExampleB:FindtheLCMof6,8and18.

6=2x3
8=2x2x2
18=2x3x3
LCM=2x2x2x3x3So,theLCM=2x2x2x3x3=72.

LowestCommonDenominator(LCD)
Whenfractionswithdifferentdenominatorsaretobeaddedorsubtracted,itisnecessaryto
findtheLowestCommonDenominator.TheLCDisessentiallytheLeastCommonMultipleof
thedenominatorsinquestion.Considerthisproblem:

Example:Calculate: .InExampleA,theLCMof12and18wascalculatedtobe36.To
determinewhichfractionalnamefor1mustbemultipliedbyeachfractiontoobtainacommon
denominator,welookforthemissingnumbersineachrow.FromExampleAabove:
missinga3
12=2x2x3
18=2x3x3 Themissingnumberintherowfor12is3.Therefore,weuse as
LCM=2x2x3x3=36 amultiplierfor .Similarly,weuse asamultiplierfor .
missinga2

Result:

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 PreAlgebra
FindingAllFactors(Divisors)

Definition
Afactor(alsocalledadivisor)isanumberthatdividesintoanothernumber,leavingno
remainder.

Examples: 6hasthefactors:1, 2, 3, 6.
30 has factors: 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 10, 15, 30.

FindingFactors
Tofindthefactorsofanumbern
Divideeachnumberlessthan intontoseeifthereisaremainder.Somecanbe
testedquickly;forexample,ifthenumberisodd,noevennumberswilldivideit.
Eachsuccessfuldivisionwithoutremainderyieldsapairoffactors,oneofwhichisless
than andoneofwhichisgreaterthan .
Collectallofthefactors,includingbothfactorsfromeachpair,intothesolutionset.
Dontforgetthetrivialfactors1andn.

Examples:Findallthefactorsof28,30,and75.

28 1 28 30 1 30 75 1 75

2 14 2 15 3 25
4 7 3 10 5 15

Factors 1, 2, 4, 7, 14, 28 5 6 Factors 1, 3, 5, 15, 25, 75

Factors 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 10, 15, 30

PerfectNumbers
Aperfectnumbernisanumberwhosefactors,including1butexcludingn,addton.For
example,seethefactorsof28intheexampleabove 1 2 4 7 14 28 .Thefirstsix
perfectnumbersare:
6 28 496 8,128 33,550,336 8,589,869,056
Allevenperfectnumbersexcept6havetheremainder1whendividedby9.
Itisnotknownwhetherthereareanyoddperfectnumbers.

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 ADVANCED
PreAlgebra
FindingAllFactors,aSecondApproach

Anotherwaytofindallofthefactorsofanumberistoworkwithitsprimefactorization.First
recallthateverynumberhasauniqueprimefactorization.Nextconsiderwhattheprime
factorizationofthenumbersaysaboutitsfactors.
Eachfactormustbetheproductofasubsetoftheprimefactorsofthenumber.
Eachpossiblesubsetofprimefactorswillgenerateauniquefactorofthenumber.

FindingFactorswithPrimeFactorization
Let , ,, bethesetofprimesincludedintheprimefactorizationofanumber .
Let , ,, betheexponentsofthoseprimesintheprimefactorizationof .
Then,theprimefactorizationof canbeexpressedas:

Factorscanbeformedfromtheproductsofeachpossiblecombinationofprimesinthis
formula.Notethateachprime canoccurasfewaszerotimesorasmanyas times,atotal
of possibilities.Thenumberoffactorsof ,then,isgivenby:
Note:" " (pronouncedtau)isthe

Greeklettercorrespondingtothe
English ;itisusedheretorepresent
the otalnumberoffactorsof .
Example:Findallfactorsofthenumber60.
Firstnotethat:
Then, .Therefore,thenumber60has12factors.

Whatarethe12factors?

Insummary,thefactorsof60are: , , , , , , , , , , ,

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 PreAlgebra
RomanNumerals

RomanNumeralsareasystemofnumbersdevelopedinAncientRome.Interestingly,thereis
noRomanNumeralforzero;theystartat1.
Thesymbolsusedandtheircorrespondingvaluesare:

Symbol Value Symbol Value

I 1 Largernumbersare V 5,000
V 5 createdbyplacingabar
X 10,000
X 10 overanumeral;this
indicatesitshouldbe C 100,000
C 100
multipliedby1,000. 500,000
D 500 D

M 1,000 M 1,000,000

Numeralsareexpressedbycombiningsymbolsaccordingtothefollowingsetofrules:
Theyarewrittenwiththelargestsymbolstotheleft.
Smallersymbolswrittentotherightindicateaddition(e.g.,DCindicates600).
Asmallernumberwrittentotheleftindicatessubtraction(e.g.,IV indicates4).
Nomorethanthreeofasymbolcanbeusedinanumeral(e.g.,30isXXX,40isXL).
Ifadigitisformedinaparticularway,itisalsoformedthatwayinlargernumerals,e.g.,
99isXCIX whichis 90 (XC) plus 9(IX),notIC (1001).

RomanNumeralsforKeyValues Combinethenumeralsat
lefttomakeanynumber
1 I 10 X 100 C from1to3,999.
2 II 20 XX 200 CC
Examples:
3 III 30 XXX 300 CCC
4 IV 40 XL 400 CD 32 XXXII
5 V 50 L 500 D 476 CDLXXVI
6 VI 60 LX 600 DC
514 DXIV
7 VII 70 LXX 700 DCC
888 DCCCLXXXVIII
8 VIII 80 LXXX 800 DCCC
9 IX 90 XC 900 CM 999 CMXCIX

2008 MMVIII
1,000 M 2,000 MM 3,000 MMM

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 PreAlgebra
MetricMeasures

KingHenry
Thefollowingmnemonicdevicecanbeusedtoremembertheorderofmetricmeasurements:

King Henry Died By Drinking Chocolate Milk

Length km hm dkm meters dm cm mm

Mass kg hg dkg grams dg cg mg
Volume kl hl dkl liters dl cl ml

In moving from right to left: In moving from left to right:

For each position traversed, For each position traversed,

Divideby10,or Multiplyby10,or
Movethedecimal Movethedecimal
oneplacetotheleft. oneplacetotheright.
Addzeroesifneeded. Addzeroesifneeded.

Inthemnemonic,thebinbystandsforbaseunit;thisistheunitthatall Note:1ml=
othersarebasedupon.Thebaseunitsabovearemeters,grams,andliters. 1cubic
centimeter
Theprefixestothebaseunit,alongwiththeirmeaningsare:

1
1,000
10
1
100
100
1
10
1,000

Examples:

Add5zeroestotheright(for5positionsmovedin
1 100,000
theabovechart).
Movethedecimal6placestotheleft(forthe6
32 .000 032
positionsmovedtotheleftintheabovechart).
Movethedecimal3placestotheright(forthe3
2.5 2,500
positionsmovedtotherightintheabovechart).

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 PreAlgebra
MeasuresandWeightsU.S.Conversions

Distance Time
1foot=12inches 1minute=60seconds

1yard=3feet=36inches 1hour=60minutes=3,600seconds

1fathom=2yards=6feet 1day=24hours=1,440minutes

1rod=5.5yards=16.5feet 1week=7days=168hours

1furlong=40rods=220yards 1fortnight=2weeks=14days

1mile=8furlongs=1,760yards=5,280feet 1month=41/3weeks

1league=3miles=24furlongs 1year=12months=52weeks

1acre=43,560squarefeet 1year=3651/4days

1squaremile=640acres
Capacity

Weight 1fluiddram=60minims

1pennyweight=24grains 1fluidounce=8fluiddrams

1dram=27.344grains 1gill=4fluidounces

1ounce=16drams=437.5grains 1cup=2gills=8fluidounces

1Troyounce=20pennyweight=480grains 1pint=2cups=16fluidounces

1pound=16ounces=7,000grains 1quart=2pints=4cups

1stone=14pounds 1gallon=4quarts=16cups

1ton=2,000pounds 1peck=2gallons

1longton=2,240pounds 1bushel=4pecks=8gallons

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 PreAlgebra
MeasuresandWeightsU.S./MetricConversions

U.S.toMetric MetrictoU.S.

Distance Distance
1millimeter=.03937inch 1inch=2.54centimeters

1centimeter=.3937inch 1foot=30.48centimeters

1meter=3.281feet 1yard=.9144meter

1kilometer=.6214mile 1mile=1.6093kilometers

Weight Weight
1carat=3.086grains 1ounce=28.35grams

1gram=.03527ounces 1pound=.4536kilogram

1kilogram=2.2046pounds 1ton=.9072metricton

1metricton=2,204.6pounds 1longton=1.016metrictons

Capacity Capacity
1milliliter=16.23minims 1fluidounce=29.57milliliters

1milliliter=.03381fluidounce 1pint=473.2milliliters

1liter=1.0567quarts 1quart=.9464liter

1liter=.2642gallon 1gallon=3.785liters

OtherMetricWeights:
1carat=200milligrams(5carats=1gram)
1metricton=1,000kilograms

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 PreAlgebra
OrderofOperations

Tothenonmathematician,theremayappeartobemultiplewaystoevaluateanalgebraic
expression.Forexample,howwouldoneevaluatethefollowing?
347 65
Youcouldworkfromlefttoright,oryoucouldworkfromrighttoleft,oryoucoulddoany
numberofotherthingstoevaluatethisexpression.Asyoumightexpect,mathematiciansdo
notlikethisambiguity,sotheydevelopedasetofrulestomakesurethatanytwopeople
evaluatinganexpressionwouldgetthesameanswer.

PEMDAS
Inordertoevaluateexpressionsliketheoneabove,mathematicianshavedefinedanorderof
operationsthatmustbefollowedtogetthecorrectvaluefortheexpression.Theacronymthat
canbeusedtorememberthisorderisPEMDAS.Alternatively,youcouldusethemnemonic
phrasePleaseExcuseMyDearAuntSallyormakeupyourownwaytomemorizetheorderof
operations.ThecomponentsofPEMDASare:

P AnythinginParenthesesisevaluatedfirst.
Usuallywhentherearemultiple
E ItemswithExponentsareevaluatednext. operationsinthesamecategory,
M Multiplicationand forexample3multiplications,
D Divisionareperformednext. theycanbeperformedinany
order,butitiseasiesttowork
A Additionand
fromlefttoright.
S Subtractionareperformedlast.

ParentheticalDevice.Ausefuldeviceistouseapplyparenthesestohelpyouremember
theorderofoperationswhenyouevaluateanexpression.Parenthesesareplacedaroundthe
itemshighestintheorderofoperations;thensolvingtheproblembecomesmorenatural.
UsingPEMDASandthisparentheticaldevice,wesolvetheexpressionaboveasfollows:

InitialExpression: 3 4 7 65 Note:Anyexpressionwhichis
ambiguous,liketheoneabove,is
Addparentheses/brackets: 347 6 5 poorlywritten.Studentsshouldstrive
SolveusingPEMDAS: 84 6 25 toensurethatanyexpressionsthey
writeareeasilyunderstoodbyothers
84 150 andbythemselves.Useofparentheses
FinalAnswer 234 andbracketsisagoodwaytomake
yourworkmoreunderstandable.

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 PreAlgebra
PropertiesofAlgebra

PropertiesofAdditionandMultiplication.Foranyrealnumbersa,b,andc:

Property DefinitionforAddition DefinitionforMultiplication

ClosureProperty isarealnumber isarealnumber

IdentityProperty 0 0 1 1

0 1 1
InverseProperty 0, 1

CommutativeProperty

AssociativeProperty

DistributiveProperty

PropertiesofZero.Foranyrealnumbera:

Multiplicationby0 0 0 0

0DividedbySomething 0, 0

Divisionby0 is undefined even if a 0

PropertiesofEquality.Foranyrealnumbersa,b,andc:

Property Definition

AdditionProperty ,

SubtractionProperty ,

MultiplicationProperty ,

DivisionProperty 0,

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 PreAlgebra
LinearPatterns

RecognizingLinearPatterns

Thefirststeptorecognizingapatternistoarrangeasetofnumbersinatable.Thetablecan
beeitherhorizontalorvertical.Here,weconsiderthepatterninahorizontalformat.More
advancedanalysisgenerallyusestheverticalformat.

Considerthispattern:
xvalue 0 1 2 3 4 5
yvalue 6 9 12 15 18 21

Toanalyzethepattern,wecalculatedifferencesofsuccessivevaluesinthetable.Theseare
calledfirstdifferences.Ifthefirstdifferencesareconstant,wecanproceedtoconvertingthe
patternintoanequation.Ifnot,wedonothavealinearpattern.Inthiscase,wemaychoose
tocontinuebycalculatingdifferencesofthefirstdifferences,whicharecalledsecond
differences,andsoonuntilwegetapatternwecanworkwith.

Intheexampleabove,wegetaconstantsetoffirstdifferences,whichtellsusthatthepattern
isindeedlinear.
xvalue 0 1 2 3 4 5
yvalue 6 9 12 15 18 21

FirstDifferences 3 3 3 3 3

ConvertingaLinearPatterntoanEquation
Note:Ifthetabledoesnothavea
Creatinganequationfromthepatterniseasyifyouhave valueforx=0,youcanstillobtain
constantdifferencesandayvalueforx=0.Inthiscase, thevalueofb.Simplyextendthe
Theequationtakestheform ,where tableleftorrightuntilyouhavean
mistheconstantdifferencefromthetable,and xvalueof0;thenusethefirst
bistheyvaluewhenx=0. differencestocalculatewhatthe
correspondingyvaluewouldbe.
Intheexampleabove,thisgivesustheequation: . Thisbecomesyourvalueofb.

Finally,itisagoodideatotestyourequation.Forexample,if 4,theaboveequationgives
34 6 18,whichisthevalueinthetable.Sowecanbeprettysureourequationis
correct.

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 PreAlgebra
OperatingwithRealNumbers

AbsoluteValue

Theabsolutevalueofsomethingisthedistanceitisfromzero.Theeasiestwaytogetthe
absolutevalueofanumberistoeliminateitssign.Absolutevaluesarealwayspositiveor0.

| 5| 5 |3| 3 |0| 0 |1.5| 1.5

AddingandSubtractingRealNumbers

AddingNumberswiththeSameSign: AddingNumberswithDifferentSigns:
Addthenumberswithoutregard Ignorethesignsandsubtractthe

tosign. smallernumberfromthelargerone.

Givetheanswerthesamesignas Givetheanswerthesignofthenumber

theoriginalnumbers. withthegreaterabsolutevalue.

Examples: Examples:
6 3 9 6 3 3
12 6 18 7 11 4

SubtractingNumbers:

Changethesignofthenumberornumbersbeingsubtracted.
Addtheresultingnumbers.
Examples:
6 3 6 3 3
13 4 13 4 9

MultiplyingandDividingRealNumbers

NumberswiththeSameSign: NumberswithDifferentSigns:
Multiplyordividethenumbers Multiplyordividethenumberswithout
withoutregardtosign. regardtosign.

Givetheanswera+sign. Givetheanswerasign.

Examples: Examples:

6 3 18 18 6 3 18

12 3 4 4 12 3 4

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 PreAlgebra
AddingandSubtractingFractions

Toaddorsubtractfractions:
Rewritetheproblemifnecessary,inordertomakeiteasiertowork.
Calculateacommondenominator.Note:anotherpageshowshowtodothis.
Expresseachfractionintermsofthecommondenominator.
Addorsubtractthenumeratorsofthefractions.Leavethedenominatorunchanged.
Simplifyifpossible.Note:ifyouwanttoconvertthesolutiontoamixednumber,first
simplifythefractionresultingfromtheadditionorsubtraction;then,calculatethe
mixednumber.

Example1: Example2:

CreateLCD: CreateLCD:

ExpresswithLCD: ExpresswithLCD:

Addnumerators: Addnumerators:

Simplify: 1 Simplify:

1 5 4 9
Example3:
9 6
Example4:
7 28

1 5
Rewriteproblem:
9 6
CreateLCD:

CreateLCD: ExpresswithLCD:

ExpresswithLCD: Addnumerators:

Addnumerators: Simplify:

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 PreAlgebra
MultiplyingandDividingFractions

Tomultiplyordividefractions:
Rewritetheproblemifnecessary,inordertomakeiteasiertowork.
Iftheproblemisadivision,invertthedivisorandchangethesigntomultiplication(flip
thatguyandmultiply).
Bringthenumeratorsanddenominatorstogetherinasinglefraction.
Simplifythemultiplicationsyouwillneedtodobyreducingthefactorsinthenumerator
anddenominator.
Multiplyboththenumeratorsanddenominatorsofthefractions.
Simplifyifpossible.Note:ifyouwanttoconvertthesolutiontoamixednumber,first
simplifythefractionresultingfromthemultiplication;then,calculatethemixed
number.

Example1: Example2:

Bringtogether: Flipdivisor:


Reduceby2s: Bringtogether:

Reduceby3s: 13 4 3

17
Reduceby7s:
1 19

Multiply: Multiply:

1 5 6 5
Example3:
24 32
Example4:
17
12

Flip+Rewrite: Rewrite:

Bringtogether: Bringtogether:

1 4 1 5
Reduceby8s:
3 5
Reduceby6s:
17 2

Multiply: Multiply:

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 PreAlgebra
MixedNumbersandImproperFractions

Definitions
Aproperfractionisoneinwhich(ignoringthesign)thenumeratorislessthanthe
denominator.Properfractionsarebetween1and1.Itneednotbeinlowestterms.
Animproperfractionisoneinwhich(ignoringthesign)thenumeratorisgreaterthanorequal
tothedenominator.Properfractionsarelessthan1orgreaterthan1. Itneednotbein
lowestterms.Rememberthatbeinglessthan 1 meansmorenegativethan 1. So,for
example, 2and arebothlessthan1.

Amixednumberisawholenumberfollowedbyaproperfraction.

Examples:

ProperFractions 2 6 1 375 18
, , , ,
3 7 9 401 20

ImproperFractions 4 17 29 97 375
, , , ,
4 12 2 96 25

MixedNumbers 3 1 12 4 1
2 , 6 , 13 , 1 , 365
4 2 21 7 4

LowestTerms
Afractionisinlowesttermswhenitdoesnotshareanyfactorsinthenumeratorand
denominator.Toputafractioninlowesttermsdivideanycommondivisorsoutofboththe
numeratoranddenominator.Example: whenwedividethecommonfactor2outof
boththenumeratoranddenominator.

ConversionbetweenMixedNumbersandImproperFractions
MixedNumbertoImproperFraction: ImproperFractiontoMixedNumber:
Multiplythewholenumberbythe Dividethenumeratorbythedenominator.
denominatorofthefractionandadditto Showtheresultasawholenumber
thenumeratorofthefractiontogetthe followedbytheremainderexpressedasa

numeratoroftheimproperfraction: fraction:

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 PreAlgebra
AddingandSubtractingMixedNumbers

Toaddorsubtractmixednumbers,
Rearrangethetermssothewholenumbersaretogetherandthefractionsaretogether.
Addorsubtractthewholenumbers.
Addorsubtractthefractionalparts.
Addtheresultsofthefirsttwosteps.Ifsubtracting,youmayneedtoborrow1fromthe
wholenumbersinordertoperformthesubtraction.
Simplify,ifpossible.

Example1: 2 4

Rearrangeterms: 2 4

Addwholenumbers: 6

Addfractions: 6

Recombine,Simplify: 6

Example2: 8 2

Rearrangeterms: 8 2

Subtractwholenumbers: 6

Subtractfractions: 6 6

Borrow1forsubtraction: 5 1 5

Simplify: 5

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 PreAlgebra
MultiplyingMixedNumbers

Thetwomethodsshownbelowareequivalent.Usewhicheveroneyoulikebest.

BoxMethod ImproperFractionMethod
Intheboxmethod, IntheImproperFractionMethod,
Createa2x2arrayof Changethetwomixednumbers

multiplicationsfromthepartsof toimproperfractions.
thefractions. Multiplytheimproperfractions.
Performthe4multiplications. Changetheproductbacktoa
Addtheresults. mixednumber.

Example:Multiply 2 4 Example:Multiply 2 4

3 2
Multiply 2 2 4
7 5

12 17 22
4 8
7 7 5

4 6 374

5 35 35

Theresultisobtainedbyaddingthe
resultsofthe4separate
multiplications.

3 2 12 4 6
2 4 8
7 5 7 5 35
60 28 6
8
35

94
8
35
24
8 2
35

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 PreAlgebra
DividingMixedNumbers

ImproperFractionMethod
Todividemixednumbers,itmaybebesttousetheImproperFractionMethod.

Example:Divide 12 3
4 1
Step1:Writethestartingproblem. 12 3
7 14

Step2:Converteachmixednumbertoanimproperfraction. 88 43

7 14
Step3:Convertthedivisiontoamultiplication.Remember 88 14

toflipthatguyandmultiply. 7 43

Step4:Simplifythemultiplicationifpossible. 88 2

1 43
Step5:Multiplybothvaluesinthenumeratorandinthe 176
denominator.
43

Step6:Dividethenumeratorbythedenominatortoobtain

thesolutiontotheproblem.
Nofurthersimplificationis
Step7:Simplifyyouranswerfurther,ifpossible.
possibleintheexample.

Check:
Step8:Ifyouhaveacalculator,checkyourworkby
4 1
convertingeachfractiontoadecimalandseeingofthe 12 3 ?
7 14
productgeneratesthesolutionyoucalculated.
12.57 3.07 ? 4.09
Theresultdoesnotneedtobeexact,butshouldbevery 4.09 4.09
close.Theresultintheexampleisexactto2decimals.
9
Note:Ifyoudonothaveacalculator,carefullycheckeach
steptomakesurebothyourlogicandyourarithmeticarecorrect.

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 PreAlgebra
DecimalCalculations

AddingandSubtractingDecimals
Fillinzeroessothatbothnumbershavethe
samenumberofdigitsafterthedecimalpoint. Example:14.02 37.1
Lineupthenumbersinverticalform. 14.02
Addorsubtract. 37.10
Keepthesamenumberofdecimalsintheresult .
thatyouhaveinyourverticalform.

MultiplyingDecimals
Lineupthenumbersinverticalform.
Example:14.02 37.1
Multiplyasyouwouldifthenumbersdidnot
1 4 . 0 2
havedecimals.
3 7 . 1
Theresult(product)willhaveanumberof
decimalsequaltothesumofthenumbersof 1 4 0 2
9 8 1 4
decimalsinthenumbersbeingmultiplied.For
4 2 0 6
example,ifanumberwith3decimalsis
multipliedbyanumberwith2decimals,the .

resultwillhave5decimals.

DividingDecimals
Example:69.615 2.1
Changetheoriginalproblem.Movethedecimal
Rewrite:696.15 21
inthedivisortotherightuntilthedivisor
3 3 . 1 5
becomesawholenumber.Movethedecimalto
therightinthedividendthesamenumberof 21 6 9 6 . 1 5
decimals. 6 3
Lineupthenumbersinlongdivisionform. 6 6 1 5
Thedecimalinthequotientwillbeinthesame 6 3
locationasitisinthedividend.Placeitthere. 3 1 5
Dividewithoutregardtothedecimal. 2 1
Checktoseeifyouranswermakessense. 1 0 5
Multiplythequotientandthedivisortoseetheir 1 0 5
productisequaltothedividend. 0

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 PreAlgebra
ComparingNumbers

ComparingDecimals
Incomparingdecimalnumbers,itisusefultoaddzeroesafterthedecimalpointsothatall
numbershavethesamenumberofzeroes.Todothis,
Findthenumberthathasthemostdigitsafterthedecimalpoint.
Fillzeroesintheothernumberssotheyalsohavethatnumberofdigitsafterthe
decimal.Thiswillmaketheproblemmucheasieronyoureyes.
Identifythelargernumber(or,theorderofthenumbersiftherearemorethantwo).

ExampleTrickquestion:Whatnumberisbigger,fourpointeightorfourpointten?
Solution:Writethenumbers: 4.8 and 4.10
Fillinzeroes: 4.80 and 4.10
Comparethenumbers: 4.80 is larger
Answer:Fourpointeight is larger than fourpointten.

PuttingFractionsinNumericalOrder
Incomparingfractions,weuseatrick:
Crossmultiplythefractions.
Puttheproductofeachmultiplicationonthesideoftheequalsignasthenumerator
usedinthemultiplication.
Comparetheresultingintegers.
Theorderofthenumbersintheoriginalproblemisthesameastheorderofthe
integersinthecrossmultiplication.

Example: Whichislarger or ?

Solution:CrossMultiply: 5 4 . 3 7
Simplify: 20 21
Becausethelargernumberisontheright,thenumberontherightintheoriginal
problemisalsothelargervalue.Therefore, isthelargerfraction.

Alternative:Ifyouhaveacalculator,youcanconverteachfractiontoadecimalandputthe
decimalsinorder.

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 PreAlgebra
RoundingNumbers

Inroundinganumbertothenthposition,lookatthenumberstotherightofthenthposition.
Then,
Rule1: Ifthenextnumbertotherightis4orlower,rounddown.Thatis,replaceallofthe
numberstotherightofthenthpositionwithzeroes.Thisisalsocalledtruncation.
Rule2: Ifthenextnumbertotherightis5andtherearenoothernonzeronumberstothe
right,specialrulesforrounding5sapply(seebelow).
Rule3: Ifthenextnumbertotherightis5followedbyanynonzeronumberanywheretothe
right,roundup.Thatis,addonetothenumberinthenthpositionandreplaceallof
thenumberstotherightofthenthpositionwithzeroes.
Rule4: Ifthenextnumbertotherightis6orhigher,roundup.

SpecialRulesforRounding5s
Therearetwodifferent(andconflicting)rulesforrounding5s.Youshouldmakesurethatyou
knowwhichoneyourteacherrequiresyoutouse.
Inroundinganumbertothenth position,whentherearenononzerodigitstotheright:
RoundUpRule:Roundupwheneverthereisa5inthenextpositiontotheright.Thisruleis
oftentaughtinhighschooltomakethingseasierforthestudent.Theproblemwiththis
approachisthatifanumberofroundingsareperformed,thereisanupwardbiasintheresults.
RoundtotheEvenDigitRule.Roundthenumberinthenthpositioneitherupordown,using
whicheverresultproducesanevennumberinthenthposition.Thisruleisoftenusedin
collegeandbusinessbecauseitdoesnotresultinabiaswhenmultipleroundingsare
performed.
Examples:(note:thenumberinthe(n+1)th placeishighlightedinorange)

Round Towhatplace? Result RuleUsed

2.843 67 .001 2.844 Round Up Rule 4
325 10 330 or 320 Rule 3 depends on 5 Rule
3.141 592 653 .000 000 1 3.141 592 7 Round Up Rule 2
9,214,387 millions 9,000,000 Round Down Rule 1
643.915 425 89 millionths 643.915 426 Round Down Rule 1
2,459.1 tens 2,460 Round Up Rule 4
42.625 12 hundredths 42.63 Round Up Rule 2

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 PreAlgebra
ConversionsofPercentstoDecimalsandFractions

ThewordcentcomesfromtheLatincentum,meaning100.So,
Apennyisacent.
Acenturyis100years.
ARomancenturionwasinchargeof100soldiers.
Percentmeansper100oroutof100.

ConversionToandFromDecimals
Apercentisconvertedtoadecimalbymovingthedecimalpointtwoplacestotheleft.

17% .17 64% .64

Adecimalisconvertedtoapercentbymovingthedecimalpointtwoplacestotheright.

. 625 62.5% . 87 87%

ConversionToandFromFractions
Apercentisconvertedtoafractionbydividingthepercentby100andreducingthefractionto
lowestterns,

25% 36%

Afractionisconvertedtoapercentbymultiplyingby100.

: 100% % 75% : 100% % 20%

MoreExamples:

Percent Decimal Fraction Percent Decimal Fraction

0 65 13
0% 0 0 65% .65
100 100 20
15 3 80 4
15% .15 80% .8
100 20 100 5
44 11 95 19
44% .44 95% .95
100 20 100 20
50 1 100
50% .5 100% 1 1
100 2 100

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 PreAlgebra
DecimalConversions

1/2 .50 50% 1/8 .125 12.5%

2/8 .250 25.0%
1/3 .333 33.3% 3/8 .375 37.5%
2/3 .667 66.7% 4/8 .500 50.0%
5/8 .625 62.5%
1/4 .25 25% 6/8 .750 75.0%
2/4 .50 50% 7/8 .875 87.5%
3/4 .75 75%
1/9 .111 11.1%
1/5 .20 20% 2/9 .222 22.2%
2/5 .40 40% 3/9 .333 33.3%
3/5 .60 60% 4/9 .444 44.4%
4/5 .80 80% 5/9 .556 55.6%
6/9 .667 66.7%
1/6 .167 16.7% 7/9 .778 77.8%
2/6 .333 33.3% 8/9 .889 88.9%
3/6 .500 50.0%
4/6 .667 66.7% 1/10 .1 10%
5/6 .833 83.3% 2/10 .2 20%
3/10 .3 30%
1/7 .142857 14.2857% 4/10 .4 40%
2/7 .285714 28.5714% 5/10 .5 50%
3/7 .428571 42.8571% 6/10 .6 60%
4/7 .571429 57.1429% 7/10 .7 70%
5/7 .714286 71.4286% 8/10 .8 80%
6/7 .857143 85.7143% 9/10 .9 90%


1/11 .09091 9.091% 1/16 .06250 6.250%
1/12 .08333 8.333% 1/17 .05882 5.882%
1/13 .07692 7.692% 1/18 .05556 5.556%
1/14 .07143 7.143% 1/19 .05263 5.263%
1/15 .06667 6.667% 1/20 .05000 5.000%

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 PreAlgebra
ApplyingaPercentIncrease

Itiscommoninmathematicstoworkwithpercentincreases.Anexampleofaneveryday
applicationofthisisthesalestaxyoupayinthelocalstore.Salestaxisexpressedintheform
ofapercentincrease.

ApplyingaPercentIncrease
Therearetwomethodsforworkingwithpercentincreases.Usetheoneyoulikebest.
Method1:
Startwiththeamountbeforeincrease(i.e.,theoriginalamount).
Calculatetheamountoftheincrease.
Addtheoriginalamountandtheamountoftheincreasetoobtainthefinalamount.

Anadvantageofthisapproachisthatyoucalculatetheamountoftheincrease.Sometimes,
thisisanimportantvaluetoknow.
Example:Whatdoyougetwhenyouincrease150by10%?
10% 150 15
150 15 165
Method2:
Addthepercentincreaseto100%.
Multiplytheoriginalamountbythisnewpercentagetoobtainthefinalamount.

100%

Thisapproachmaybeeasierandhasextensivebusinessapplications.
Example:Whatdoyougetwhenyouincrease150by10%?
100% 10% 110% 1.1
150 1.1 165

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 PreAlgebra
ApplyingaPercentDecrease

Itiscommoninmathematicstoworkwithpercentdecreases.Inastoreyoumayseeasign
thatsaysSale40%off.Insuchacase,youmaywanttocalculatethesaleprice.

ApplyingaPercentDecrease
Therearetwomethodsforworkingwithpercentdecreases.Usetheoneyoulikebest.
Method1:
Startwiththeamountbeforedecrease(i.e.,theoriginalamount).
Calculatetheamountofthedecrease.
Subtracttheamountofthedecreasefromtheoriginalamounttoobtainthefinalamount.

Anadvantageofthisapproachisthatyoucalculatetheamountofthedecrease.Sometimes,
thisisanimportantvaluetoknow(e.g.,howmuchmoneydidyousave?).
Example:Whatdoyougetwhenyoudecrease150by40%?
40% 150 60
150 60 90
Method2:
Subtractthepercentincreasefrom100%.
Multiplytheoriginalamountbythisnewpercentagetoobtainthefinalamount.

100%

Thisapproachmaybeeasierandhasthesameformastheformulaforpercentincrease.Italso
hasextensivebusinessapplications.
Example:Whatdoyougetwhenyoudecrease150by40%?
100% 40% 60% 0.6
150 0.6 90

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 PreAlgebra
CalculatingPercentIncreasesandDecreases

Manytimes,youhavetheoriginalamountandthefinalamountaftereitheranincreaseor
decreaseinvalue.Youmaywanttocalculatethepercentofthatincreaseordecrease.

PercentIncrease
Givenastartingamountandafinalamount,

Example:Astockincreasesinvaluefrom$80to$96;whatpercenthasitincreased?
$96 $80 $16
$16 $80 .20 20%

PercentDecrease
Givenastartingamountandafinalamount,

Example:Astockdecreasesinvaluefrom$80to$68;whatpercenthasitincreased?
$80 $68 $12
$12 $80 .15 15%

Noticethefollowing:
Youcalculatebothanincreaseandadecreaseasthedifferencebetweentheoriginal
andfinalamounts.
Thepercentchangeisalwayscalculatedastheamountofthechangedividedbythe
originalamount.

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 PreAlgebra
PieCharts

APieChartisacircularchartthatusepercentagestoshowhowpartsofawholecompareto
thewholeandtoeachother.Anumberoftoolsarereadilyavailabletomakepiecharts.The
onesbelowwereconstructedusingMicrosoftExcel2007.

ElementsofaPieChart
Apiechartshouldcontainthefollowingitems:
TitleAshorttitleshouldbeplacedoverthecharttodescribetheinformationinit.
Theremaybebothprimaryandsecondarytitles;thesecondarytitlesareoptional.
Bodythebodyofthechartisacirclewithradiithatdividetheinteriorofthecircleinto
sectors.Eachsectorrepresentsaportionofthecircleinthesameproportionthatthe
itemrepresentedbythesectorrelatestothewholerepresentedbythecircle.
LegendAlegendidentifieseachsectorandtellswhatitrepresents.Legendsare
optional.
LabelsLabelsmaybeplacedineachsectortoindicatethepercentageitcontainsorto
describetheitemitrepresents.
Thesumofthepercentagesinapiechartmustalwaysaddupto100%.

SamplePieCharts

Thechartontheleftusesbothlabelsandalegendtoprovideinformation,whereasthechart
ontherightprovidesallofitsinformationusinglabelsalone.Withpiecharts,thekeyisto
provideinformation;youhavealotofoptionstobecreativeaslongasyouachievethatgoal.

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 PreAlgebra
EstimatingSquareRoots

SquareRootsofPerfectSquares
Tableof
Thesquarerootofaperfectsquarecanbereadrightoffthetabletothe Squares
right.Forexample,
1 1
36 6 6 36
2 4
Itisworthwhiletomemorizetheperfectsquaresinthistable.Theyoccur 3 9
veryfrequentlyinmathfrom7thgradeandup.
4 16
SquareRootsofOtherNumbers 5 25
Squarerootsofnumbersotherthanperfectsquarescanbeestimatedwith 6 36
aprocesscalledinterpolation.Tocalculate :
7 49
Findwhere fitsbetweenperfectsquaresintherighthandcolumn
8 64
ofthetabletotheright.
Determinethecorrespondingsquarerootsoftheperfectsquares 9 81
aboveandbelow .
10 100
Interpolatebetweenthetwosquarerootsinthepreviousstep
basedonwhere liesbetweentheperfectsquares. 11 121

Example: 12 144

Estimate127 13 169
127liesbetween121and144inthetabletotheright. 14 196

Lineupthethreesquarerootsandperfectsquaresinatable: 15 225

SquareRoot PerfectSquare 16 256

11 121 17 289
11 6 23
1 127
18 324
12 144
19 361
Then,solvetheproportion: 20 400

Crossmultiply: 23 253 6 23 259

Finally, 11.26 . byinterpolation

Usingacalculator,theactualvalue,to2decimals,is: 127 11.27bycalculator

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 PreAlgebra
RootsofLargeNumbers

Therearetimeswhenitisusefultobeabletoestimatearotofalargenumber.Usually,itis
usefultodosotocheckanansweryouhavecalculatedonacalculator.

SquareRoots
Toestimatethesquarerootofalargenumber: SquareRootExample:
Rewritethenumberwithitsdigitsinpairsfrom Takethesquarerootof162,000
theright. 162000 ~ 16 20 00
Takethesquarerootoftheleftmostdigitorpair
ofdigits.
Leftmost2Pairsof
Countthenumberofpairsofdigitstotheright DigitsDigitsonRight
oftheleadingdigitordigits.Addthisnumberof
zeroesafterthevaluecalculatedintheprevious
16 4Add2zeroes
step. Estimateis400
Check:400 160,000
HigherLevelRoots
Toestimatethenthrootofalargenumber:
Rewritethenumberwithitsdigitsingroupsofsizenfromtheright.
Takethenthrootoftheleftmostsetofdigits.
Countthenumberofsetsofdigitstotherightoftheleadingdigitordigits.Addthis
numberofzeroesafterthevaluecalculatedinthepreviousstep.

3rd(Cube)RootExample: 4thRootExample:

Takethe3rdrootof27,000,000,000 Takethe4throotof62,512,256,013

27,000,000,000 ~ 27 000 000 000 62,512,256,013 ~ 625 1225 6013

Leftmost3Setsof3 Leftmost2Setsof4
DigitsDigitsonRight DigitsDigitsonRight

27 3Add3zeroes 625 5Add2zeroes

Estimateis3,000
Estimateis500
Check:3,000 27,000,000,000 Check:500 62,500,000,000

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 PreAlgebra
ExponentFormulas

Word Description Math Description Limitations

Examples
of Property of Property on Variables

Product of Powers

Quotient of Powers

Power of a Power

Anything to the zero

power is 1 , if
, ,

Negative powers
generate the reciprocal
of what a positive
power generates

Power of a product

Power of a quotient

Converting a root to a
power

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 PreAlgebra
Powersof10

UsesofPowersof10
Powersof10areusefulinmathematicsandscience.Inparticular, Powersof10
theyareusedinscientificnotationtoexpressverylargenumbers
andverysmallnumberswithoutusingupallthespaceabunchof 10 0.000 001
zeroeswouldtake.Numberswithalotofzeroesarealsohardto
10 0.000 01
grasp,whereaspowersof10arerelativelyeasytograsp.
10 0.000 1
NegativePowersof10
10 0.001
Fornegativepowersof10,thenumberofzeroesbeforethe1,
includingonezerototheleftofthedecimalpoint,isequaltothe 10 0.01
exponent(disregardingthenegativesign). 10 0.1

ZeroPowerof10 10 1

10 1(notice,nozeroestotheleftorrightofthe1)
10 10

PositivePowersof10 10 100
10 1,000
Forpositivepowersof10,thenumberofzeroesafterthe1isequal
totheexponent.
10 10,000

FunOnlySpecialCases 10 100,000

Therearetwospecialcasesforpowersof10thatmathematicians 10 1,000,000
havedefined.Forverybignumbers,mathematicianshavedefined
thegoogolandthegoogolplex.Thesearenottobeconfusedwith 10 googol
Google,theinternetsearchengine;theyarespelleddifferently. 10
Theyaredefinedas:
10 (a1followedby100zeroes)
10 (a1followedbygoogolzeroes)
Maybeyoucancreateyourownnamefor:
10 (a1followedbygoogolplexzeroes)

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 PreAlgebra
ScientificNotation

Format
Anumberinscientificnotationhastwoparts:
Anumberwhichisatleast1andislessthan10(i.e.,itmusthaveonlyonedigitbefore
thedecimalpoint).Thisnumberiscalledthecoefficient.
Apowerof10whichismultipliedbythefirstnumber.
Hereareafewexamplesofregularnumbersexpressedinscientificnotation.

32 3.2 10 0.00034 3.4 10 1 1 10

1,420,000 1.42 10 1000 1 10 450 4.5 10

Howmanydigits?Howmanyzeroes?
Thereareacoupleofsimplerulesforconvertingfromscientificnotationtoaregularnumberor
forconvertingfromaregularnumbertoscientificnotation:
Ifaregularnumberislessthan1,theexponentof10inscientificnotationisnegative.
Thenumberofleadingzeroesintheregularnumberisequaltotheabsolutevalueof
thisexponent.Inapplyingthisrule,youmustcountthezerobeforethedecimalpointin
theregularnumber.Examples:

OriginalNumber Action Conversion

0.00034 Count4zeroes 3.4x104

6.234x108 Add8zeroesbeforethedigits 0.00000006234

Ifthenumberisgreaterthan1,thenumberofdigitsafterthefirstoneintheregular
numberisequaltotheexponentof10inthescientificnotation.

OriginalNumber Action Conversion

4,800,000 Count6digitsafterthe4 4.8x106

9.6x103 Add3digitsafterthe9 9,600

Asageneralrule,multiplyingbypowersof10movesthedecimalpointoneplacefor
eachpowerof10.
o Multiplyingbypositivepowersof10movesthedecimaltotheright.
o Multiplyingbynegativepowersof10movesthedecimaltotheleft.

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 PreAlgebra
AddingandSubtractingwithScientificNotation

Whenaddingorsubtractingnumbersinscientificnotation:
Adjustthenumberssotheyhavethesamepowerof10.Thisworksbestifyouadjust
therepresentationofthesmallernumbersothatithasthesamepowerof10asthe
largernumber.Todothis:
o Callthedifferencebetweentheexponentsof10inthetwonumbersn.
o Raisethepowerof10ofthesmallernumberbyn,and
o Movethedecimalpointofthecoefficientofthesmallernumbernplacesto
theleft.
Addthecoefficients,keepingthepowerof10unchanged.
Iftheresultisnotinscientificnotation,adjustitsothatitis.
o Ifthecoefficientisatleast1andlessthan10,theanswerisinthecorrectform.
o Ifthecoefficientis10orgreater,increasetheexponentof10by1andmovethe
decimalpointofthecoefficientonespacetotheleft.
o Ifthecoefficientislessthan1,decreasetheexponentof10by1andmovethe
decimalpointofthecoefficientonespacetotheright.

Examples:
Explanation:Aconversionofthesmaller
3.2 10 0.32 10
numberisrequiredpriortoaddingbecausethe
9.9 10 9.90 10 exponentsofthetwonumbersaredifferent.
10. 22 10 Afteradding,theresultisnolongerinscientific

notation,soanextrastepisneededtoconvertit
1.022 10 intotheappropriateformat.

6.1 10 6.1 10 Explanation:Noconversionisnecessary

becausetheexponentsofthetwonumbersare
2.3 10 2.3 10 thesame.Afteradding,theresultisinscientific
8. 4 10 notation,sonoadditionalstepsarerequired.

Explanation:Aconversionofthesmaller
1.2 10 1.20 10
numberisrequiredpriortosubtractingbecause
4.5 10 0.45 10 theexponentsofthetwonumbersaredifferent.
0.75 10 Aftersubtracting,theresultisnolongerin
scientificnotation,soanextrastepisneededto
7.5 10 convertitintotheappropriateformat.

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 PreAlgebra
MultiplyingandDividingwithScientificNotation

Whenmultiplyingordividingnumbersinscientificnotation:
Multiplyordividethecoefficients.
Multiplyordividethepowersof10.Rememberthatthismeansaddingorsubtracting
theexponentswhilekeepingthebaseof10unchanged.
o Ifyouaremultiplying,addtheexponentsof10.
o Ifyouaredividing,subtracttheexponentsof10.
Iftheresultisnotinscientificnotation,adjustitsothatitis.
o Ifthecoefficientisatleast1andlessthan10,theanswerisinthecorrectform.
o Ifthecoefficientis10orgreater,increasetheexponentof10by1andmovethe
decimalpointofthecoefficientonespacetotheleft.
o Ifthecoefficientislessthan1,decreasetheexponentof10by1andmovethe
decimalpointofthecoefficientonespacetotheright.

Examples:

4 10 Explanation:Thecoefficientsaremultipliedand
theexponentsareadded.Aftermultiplying,the
5 10
resultisnolongerinscientificnotation,soan
20 10 extrastepisneededtoconvertitintothe
2.0 10 appropriateformat.

1.2 10 Explanation:Thecoefficientsaremultipliedand
theexponentsareadded.Aftermultiplying,the
2.0 10 resultisinscientificnotation,sonoadditional
2. 4 10 stepsarerequired.

3.3 10 Explanation:Thecoefficientsaredividedand
theexponentsaresubtracted.Afterdividing,
5.5 10
theresultisnolongerinscientificnotation,so
0.6 10 anextrastepisneededtoconvertitintothe
appropriateformat.
6.0 10

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 PreAlgebra
GraphingwithCoordinates

Graphsintwodimensionsareverycommoninalgebraandareoneofthemostcommon
algebraapplicationsinreallife.
y

Coordinates
Quadrant2 Quadrant1
Theplaneofpointsthatcanbegraphedin2dimensionsis
calledtheRectangularCoordinatePlaneortheCartesian x
CoordinatePlane(namedaftertheFrenchmathematician
andphilosopherRenDescartes). Quadrant3 Quadrant4

Twoaxesaredefined(usuallycalledthexandyaxes).
Eachpointontheplanehasanxvalueandayvalue,writtenas:(xvalue,yvalue)
Thepoint(0,0)iscalledtheorigin,andisusuallydenotedwiththeletterO.
Theaxesbreaktheplaneinto4quadrants,asshownabove.TheybeginwithQuadrant1
wherexandyarebothpositiveandincreasenumericallyinacounterclockwisefashion.

PlottingPointsonthePlane
Whenplottingpoints,
thexvaluedetermineshowfarright(positive)orleft(negative)oftheoriginthepointis
plotted.
Theyvaluedetermineshowfarup(positive)ordown(negative)fromtheoriginthepointis
plotted.

Examples:
Thefollowingpointsareplottedinthefigureto
theright:
A=(2,3) inQuadrant1
B=(3,2) inQuadrant2
C=(2,2) inQuadrant3
D=(4,1) inQuadrant4
O=(0,0) isnotinanyquadrant

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 PreAlgebra
ChangingWordstoMathematicalExpressions

WordProblemsusewordsthatmustbetranslatedintomathematicalexpressionstobesolved.
Intheseproblems,certainwordsareusedrepeatedly.Herearesomeofthem.

Categoryof Words SampleWordExpression MathTranslation

Words
addedto
increasedby
6addedto4 6 4 10
morethan 21increasedby6 21 6 27
Addition
plus 5morethan9 5 9 14
sumof Thetotalof3and7 3 7 10
totalof
decreasedby
differencebetween
differenceof 13decreasedby6 13 6 7
less Differenceof42and24 42 24 18
Subtraction lessthan 6lessthan9 9 6 3
lowerthan 33 12 21
12lowerthan33
minus
reducedby 11reducedby3 11 3 8
subtractedfrom
double
multipliedby Double12 2 12 24
of Productof3and6 36 18
Multiplication productof
14times3 14 3 42
times
triple Triple7 37 21
twice
dividedamong
dividedby 12dividedby6 12 6 2
half Halfof24 24 2 12
Division onethird Onethirdof18 18 3 6
outof
Quotientof32and16 32 16 2
per
quotientof Ratioof24and6 24 6 4
ratioof
equals
generates 6and4generatesx 6 4
gives 4lowerthanxgives6 4 6
Equals is,are,otherformsof xistriple4 3 4
tobe 12 1
provides 12outofxis
2
yields

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 PreAlgebra
SolvingOneStepEquations

Themainthrustinaonestepequationistoisolatethevariableononesideoftheequation,
andhaveallthenumbersontheotherside.Thisisaccomplishedbyundoingwhatever
operationintheequationisinteractingwiththevariable.Bydefinition,aonestepequation
requiresonlyonesteptodevelopasolution.

Operationsareundonebyapplyingtheopposite(or,inverse)operationontheequation.
Inverseoperationsarelistedinthefollowingtable:

Operation InverseOperation
Addition Subtraction
Subtraction Addition
Multiplication Division
Division Multiplication
Exponent Logarithm
Logarithm Exponent

Examples:

Example1: Example2:
Solve: 4 9 Solve: 3 6
Subtract4: 4 4 Add3: 3 3

Result: 5 Result: 3

Example3: Example4:
Solve: 3 15 Solve: 4

Divideby3: Multiplyby6: 6 6

Result: 5 Result: 24

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 PreAlgebra
SolvingMultiStepEquations

ReversePEMDAS
OnesystematicwaytoapproachmultistepequationsisReversePEMDAS.PEMDASdescribes
theorderofoperationsusedtoevaluateanexpression.Solvinganequationistheoppositeof
evaluatingit,soreversingthePEMDASorderofoperationsseemsappropriate.

Theguidingprinciplesintheprocessare:
Eachstepworkstowardisolatingthevariableforwhichyouaretryingtosolve.
EachstepundoesanoperationinReversePEMDASorder:
Inverses
Subtraction Addition Note:Logarithmsarethe
Inverses inverseoperatortoexponents.
Division Multiplication Thistopicistypicallycoveredin

Exponents Inverses
Logarithms
thesecondyearofAlgebra.

Parentheses Inverses
RemoveParentheses(andrepeatprocess)

Thelistaboveshowsinverseoperationrelationships.Inordertoundoanoperation,you
performitsinverseoperation.Forexample,toundoaddition,yousubtract;toundodivision,
youmultiply.Hereareacoupleofexamples:

Example1 Example2
Solve: 3 4 14 Solve: 2 2 5 3 5
Step1:Add4 4 4 Step1:Add3 3 3

Result: 3 18 Result: 2 2 5 2

Step2:Divideby3 3 3 Step2:Divideby2 2 2
Result: 6
Result: 2 5 1
Noticethatweaddandsubtractbeforewe Step3:Removeparentheses

multiplyanddivide.ReversePEMDAS. Result: 2 5 1
Step4:Subtract5 5 5

Result: 2 6
Withthisapproach,youwillbeableto
Step5:Divideby2 2 2
solvealmostanymultistepequation.As
yougetbetteratit,youwillbeabletouse Result: 3
someshortcutstosolvetheproblemfaster.
Sincespeedisimportantinmathematics,learningafewtipsandtrickswithregardtosolving
equationsislikelytobeworthyourtime.

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 PreAlgebra
TipsandTricksinSolvingMultiStepEquations

FractionalCoefficients
Fractionspresentastumblingblocktomanystudentsinsolvingmultistepequations.When
stumblingblocksoccur,itisagoodtimetodevelopatricktohelpwiththeprocess.Thetrick
shownbelowinvolvesusingthereciprocalofafractionalcoefficientasamultiplierinthe
solutionprocess.(Rememberthatacoefficientisanumberthatismultipliedbyavariable.)

Example1

Solve: 8 Explanation:Since isthereciprocalof ,

whenwemultiplythem,weget1,and
Multiplyby : 1 .Usingthisapproach,wecanavoid
dividingbyafraction,whichismoredifficult.
Result: 8 12

Example2 Explanation: 4isthereciprocalof ,so

Solve: 2 whenwemultiplythem,weget1.Notice
theuseofparenthesesaroundthenegative
Multiplyby 4: 4 4
numbertomakeitclearwearemultiplying
Result: 2 4 8 andnotsubtracting.

AnotherApproachtoParentheses
IntheReversePEMDASmethod,parentheses Example3
arehandledafterallotheroperations. Solve: 2 2 5 3 5
Sometimes,itiseasiertooperateonthe Step1:Eliminateparentheses
parenthesesfirst.Inthisway,youmaybeable Result: 4 10 3 5
torestatetheprobleminaneasierformbefore Step2:Combineconstants
solvingit.
Result: 4 7 5
Example3,atright,isanotherlookatthe Step3:Subtract7 7 7
probleminExample2onthepreviouspage. Result: 4 12
Usewhicheverapproachyoufindmosttoyour Step4:Divideby4 4 4
liking.Theyarebothcorrect. Result: 3

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 PreAlgebra
SolvingforaVariable

Sometimesinmathematicsand,especially,inscience,wearepresentedwithaformulaand
askedtosolveforoneofitsvariables.Thiskindofproblemisanapplicationinsolvingan
equation.Thekeydifferencefromotherequationsthestudenthasbeenaskedtosolveisthat
thereareusuallyseveralvariablesintheexpression.

TheTrick
Thetrickistotreatthevariablesthesamewayyouwouldtreatnumbers.Justpretendtheyare
numbers.Youcanadd,subtract,multiply,divideandmore,justlikeyouwouldnumbers.Your
goalistoisolatethevariableyouaresolvingfor.

Example1:TrianglePerimeter Example2:IdealGasLaw

Theformulafortheperimeterofa TheIdealGasLawstatesthat:
triangleis:

Solvethisfor .
Solvethisfor .
Herearethesteps:
Herearethesteps: Start:
Start: Dividebyn:
Subtractb:

Result:
Result:
DividebyR:
Subtractc:

Result: Result:
Switchsides:
Switchsides:

Themaindifficultyinsolvingproblemswithmultiplevariablesiskeepingtrackofallthe
variables.Herearesometips:
Takeyourtimeandbecareful.
Performthecalculationsoneatatimeandinalogicalprogression.
Checkyourworkcarefully.Ifyoudidyourworkcorrectly,youshouldbeabletoreverse
yourstepsandderivetheoriginalformulafromtheoneinyoursolution.

Version 2.4 Page 51 of 107 April 2, 2017
 PreAlgebra
Inequalities

InequalitySigns
Thefollowingsignsareusedininequalities;
Lessthansign. isread islessthan .
Lessthanorequalsign. isread islessthanorequalto .
Greaterthansign. isread isgreaterthan .
Greaterthanorequalsign. isread isgreaterthanorequalto .

RelationshiptoEquations
Inequalitiesaresolvedinmuchthesamewayasequations.Thereareacoupleofdifferences
youshouldbeawareof:
Whenyoumultiplyordividebyanegativenumber,youmustflipthesign.Thatis,
" "becomes" "
" "becomes" "
" "becomes" "
" "becomes" "
Whenyouswitchsidesofaninequalityyoumustflipthesign.

Examples:

Example1: Example2:
Solve: 4 1 Solve: 3 9
Subtract4: 4 4 Divideby3: 3 3

Result: 5 FlipSign: 3

ATrickThinkaboutthetwosidesofthe
inequalitysigns.Thepointysideissmall,and Example3:
theopensideislarge.Then,
Switchsides: 6
Thesmallerexpressionisonthepointy
(smaller)sideofthesign. FlipSign: 6
Thelargerexpressionisontheopen
(larger)sideofthesign.

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 PreAlgebra
GraphsofInequalitiesinOneDimension

Inequalitiesinonedimensionaregenerallygraphedonthenumberline.Alternatively,ifitis
clearthatthegraphisonedimensional,thegraphscanbeshowninrelationtoanumberline
butnotspecificallyonit(examplesofthisareonthenextpage).

OneDimensionalGraphComponents
Theendpoint(s)Theendpointsfortherayorsegmentinthegraphareshownaseither
openorclosedcircles.
o Ifthepointisincludedinthesolutiontotheinequality(i.e.,ifthesignisor),the
circleisclosed.
o Ifthepointisnotincludedinthesolutiontotheinequality(i.e.,ifthesignis<or>),
thecircleisopen.
ThearrowIfallnumbersinonedirectionofthenumberlinearesolutionstothe
inequality,anarrowpointsinthatdirection.
o For<orsigns,thearrowpointstotheleft().
o For>orsigns,thearrowpointstotheright().
Thelineinasimpleinequality,alineisdrawnfromtheendpointtothearrow.Ifthereare
twoendpoints,alineisdrawnfromonetotheother.

Examples:

Version 2.4 Page 53 of 107 April 2, 2017

 PreAlgebra
CompoundInequalitiesinOneDimension

Compoundinequalitiesareasetofinequalitiesthatmustallbetrueatthesametime.Usually,
therearetwoinequalities,butmorethantwocanalsoformacompoundset.Theprinciples
describedbeloweasilyextendtocaseswheretherearemorethantwoinequalities.

CompoundInequalitieswiththeWordAND
AnexampleofcompoundinequalitieswiththewordANDwouldbe:
12 2 or 1 Thesearethesameconditions,
(SimpleForm) (CompoundForm) expressedintwodifferentforms.

Graphically,ANDinequalitiesexistatpointswherethegraphsoftheindividualinequalities
overlap.Thisistheintersectionofthegraphsoftheindividualinequalities.Belowaretwo
examplesofgraphsofcompoundinequalitiesusingthewordAND.

AtypicalANDexample:Theresultisa ANDcompoundinequalitiessometimesresult
segmentthatcontainsthepointsthatoverlap intheemptyset.Thishappenswhenno
thegraphsoftheindividualinequalities. numbersmeetbothconditionsatthesametime.

CompoundInequalitieswiththeWordOR
Graphically,ORinequalitiesexistatpointswhereanyoftheoriginalgraphshavepoints.This
istheunionofthegraphsoftheindividualinequalities.Belowaretwoexamplesofgraphsof
compoundinequalitiesusingthewordOR.

AtypicalORexample:Theresultisapairof ORcompoundinequalitiessometimesresultin
raysextendinginoppositedirections,witha thesetofallnumbers.Thishappenswhenevery
gapinbetween. numbermeetsatleastoneoftheconditions.

Version 2.4 Page 54 of 107 April 2, 2017

 PreAlgebra
tCharts

Oneoftheeasiestwaystoplotalineistocreatesomethingcalledatchart.Todevelopat
chart,
Drawalargelowercasetonyourpage.Also,drawasetofxandyaxesonyourpage.
Onthetchart,labelthetop:xontheleftandyontheright.
Selectasetofatleastthreexvalues;placethemonthelefthandsideofthet.Tip:
Usuallyzeroisagoodchoiceforx;youmayalsowanttouseanegativenumberanda
positivenumber.However,andthreevalueswillwork.
Calculatethecorrespondingyvaluesforeachxvalue.
Plotthe , orderedpairsontheaxesyoudrewinthefirststep.
Drawthelinethroughthosepoints.Ifthelinedoesnotgothroughallofthepoints,you
havemadeamistake;checkyourworkcarefully.
Example:
Drawthegraphoftheline: 2 1.
CreateaTchart: x y
2 2 2 1 5
0 2 0 1 1
2 2 2 1 3
4 2 4 1 7

PlotthePoints: DrawtheLine:

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 PreAlgebra
SlopeofaLine

Theslopeofalinetellshowfastitrisesorfallsasitmovesfromlefttoright.Iftheslopeis
rising,theslopeispositive;ifitisfalling,theslopeisnegative.Thelettermisoftenusedas
thesymbolforslope.

Thetwomostusefulwaystocalculatetheslopeofalinearediscussedbelow.

MathematicalDefinitionofSlope
Thedefinitionisbasedontwopointswith
coordinates , and , .Thedefinition,
then,is:

Comments:
Youcanselectany2pointsontheline.
Atablesuchastheoneatrightcanbehelpfulfordoing
yourcalculations. xvalue yvalue
Point2
Notethat impliesthat .
Point1
So,itdoesnotmatterwhichpointyouassignasPoint1
andwhichyouassignasPoint2.Therefore,neitherdoes Difference
itmatterwhichpointisfirstinthetable.
ItisimportantthatonceyouassignapointasPoint1andanotherasPoint2,thatyouuse
theircoordinatesintheproperplacesintheformula.

Examples:
Forthetwolinesinthefigureabove,wegetthefollowing:
RedLine xvalue yvalue
GreenLine xvalue yvalue
PointA 1 4 PointD 4 2

PointC 3 4 PointB 4 2

Difference 4 8 Difference 8 4

GreenLine: RedLine:

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 PreAlgebra
SlopeofaLine(contd)

RiseoverRun
Anequivalentmethodofcalculatingslopethatismore
visualistheRiseoverRunmethod.Underthis
method,ithelpstodrawverticalandhorizontallines
thatindicatethehorizontalandverticaldistances
betweenpointsontheline.

Theslopecanthenbecalculatedasfollows:

Theriseofalineishowmuchitincreases(positive)ordecreases(negative)betweentwo
points.Therunishowfarthelinemovestotheright(positive)ortheleft(negative)between
thesametwopoints.

Comments:
Youcanselectany2pointsontheline.
Itisimportanttostartatthesamepointinmeasuringboththeriseandtherun.
Agoodconventionistoalwaysstartwiththepointontheleftandworkyourwaytothe
right;thatway,therun(i.e.,thedenominatorintheformula)isalwayspositive.Theonly
exceptiontothisiswhentheruniszero,inwhichcasetheslopeisundefined.
Ifthetwopointsareclearlymarkedasintegersonagraph,theriseandrunmayactuallybe
countedonthegraph.Thismakestheprocessmuchsimplerthanusingtheformulaforthe
definitionofslope.However,whencounting,makesureyougettherightsignfortheslope
oftheline,e.g.,movingdownasthelinemovestotherightisanegativeslope.

Examples:

Forthetwolinesinthefigureabove,wegetthefollowing:

GreenLine: Noticehowsimilarthe
calculationsintheexamples
areunderthetwomethods
RedLine: ofcalculatingslopes.

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 PreAlgebra
SlopesofVariousLines

lineisvertical

Whenyoulookataline,you
4 shouldnoticethefollowing
2 aboutitsslope: 1
5 3
2
lineissteepandgoingdown Whetheritis0,positive,
lineissteepandgoingup
negativeorundefined.
Ifpositiveornegative,
whetheritislessthan1,
about1,orgreaterthan1.

Thepurposeofthegraphson
thispageistohelpyougetafeel
forthesethings.

Thiscanhelpyoucheck: 1
1
Givenaslope,whetheryou linegoesupata45angle
linegoesdownata45angle drewthelinecorrectly,or
Givenaline,whetheryou
calculatedtheslope
correctly.

3 2

17 11
lineisshallowandgoingdown lineisshallowandgoingup

0
lineishorizontal

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 PreAlgebra
VariousFormsofaLine

TherearethreeformsofalinearequationwhicharemostusefultotheAlgebrastudent,each
ofwhichcanbeconvertedintotheothertwothroughalgebraicmanipulation.Theabilityto
movebetweenformsisaveryusefulskillinAlgebra,andshouldbepracticedbythestudent.

StandardForm
TheStandardFormofalinearequationis: StandardFormExamples
3 2 6

whereA,B,andCarerealnumbersandAandBarenotbothzero. 2 7 14
Usuallyinthisform,theconventionisforAtobepositive.

Why,youmightask,isthisStandardForm?Onereasonisthatthisformiseasilyextendedto
additionalvariables,whereasotherformsarenot.Forexample,infourvariables,theStandard
Formwouldbe: .Anotherreasonisthatthisformeasilylendsitself
toanalysiswithmatrices,whichcanbeveryusefulinsolvingsystemsofequations.

SlopeInterceptForm
SlopeInterceptExamples
TheSlopeInterceptFormofalinearequationistheonemost
familiartomanystudents.Itis: 3 6
3
14
4
wheremistheslopeandbistheyinterceptoftheline(i.e.,the
valueatwhichthelinecrossestheyaxisinagraph).mandbmustalsoberealnumbers.

PointSlopeForm
ThePointSlopeFormofalinearequationistheoneusedleastby
thestudent,butitcanbeveryusefulincertaincircumstances.In PointSlopeExamples
particular,asyoumightexpect,itisusefulifthestudentisaskedfor 3 2 4
theequationofalineandisgiventhelinesslopeandthe 2
coordinatesofapointontheline.Theformoftheequationis: 7 5
3

wheremistheslopeand , isanypointontheline.Onestrengthofthisformisthat
equationsformedusingdifferentpointsonthesamelinewillbeequivalent.

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 PreAlgebra
SlopesofParallelandPerpendicularLines

ParallelLines
Twolinesareparalleliftheirslopesareequal.
In form,ifthevaluesof are
thesame.
Example: 2 3 and
2 1
InStandardForm,ifthecoefficientsof and
areproportionalbetweentheequations.
Example:3 2 5 and
6 4 7
Also,ifthelinesarebothvertical(i.e.,their
slopesareundefined).
Example: 3 and
2

PerpendicularLines
Twolinesareperpendiculariftheproductoftheir
slopesis .Thatis,iftheslopeshavedifferent
signsandaremultiplicativeinverses.
In form,thevaluesof
multiplytoget 1..
Example: 6 5 and
3

InStandardForm,ifyouaddtheproductof
thexcoefficientstotheproductofthey
coefficientsandgetzero.
Example:4 6 4 and
3 2 5because 4 3 6 2 0

Also,ifonelineisvertical(i.e., isundefined)andonelineishorizontal(i.e., 0).

Example: 6 and
3

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 PreAlgebra
ProbabilityandOdds

Probability
Probabilityisameasureofthelikelihoodthataneventwilloccur.Itdependsonthenumberof
outcomesthatrepresenttheeventandthetotalnumberofpossibleoutcomes.Inequationterms,

Example1:Theprobabilityofaflippedcoinlandingasaheadis1/2.Therearetwoequallylikelyevents
whenacoinisflippeditwillshowaheadoritwillshowatail.So,thereisonechanceoutoftwothat
thecoinwillshowaheadwhenitlands.

1 1

2 2

Example2:Inajar,thereare15bluemarbles,10redmarblesand7greenmarbles.Whatisthe
probabilityofselectingaredmarblefromthejar?Inthisexample,thereare32totalmarbles,10of
whicharered,sothereisa10/32(or,whenreduced,5/16)probabilityofselectingaredmarble.

10 10 5

32 32 16

Odds
Oddsaresimilartoprobability,exceptthatwemeasurethenumberofchancesthataneventwilloccur
relativetothenumberofchancesthattheeventwillnotoccur.

Intheaboveexamples,

1 1 10 10 5

1 1 22 22 11

Notethatthenumeratorandthedenominatorinanoddscalculationaddtothetotalnumberof
possibleoutcomesinthedenominatorofthecorrespondingprobabilitycalculation.

Tothebeginningstudent,theconceptofoddsisnotasintuitiveastheconceptofprobabilities;
however,theyareusedextensivelyinsomeenvironments.

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 PreAlgebra
ProbabilitywithDice

SingleDie
Probabilitywithasingledieisbasedonthenumberofchancesofaneventoutof6possible
outcomesonthedie.Forexample:

2 5

TwoDice
Probabilitywithtwodiceisbasedonthenumberofchancesofaneventoutof36possible
outcomesonthedice.Thefollowingtableofresultswhenrolling2diceishelpfulinthisregard:

1stDie
2ndDie 1 2 3 4 5 6
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
2 3 4 5 6 7 8
3 4 5 6 7 8 9
4 5 6 7 8 9 10
5 6 7 8 9 10 11
6 7 8 9 10 11 12

Theprobabilityofrollinganumberwithtwodiceisthenumberoftimesthatnumberoccursin
thetable,dividedby36.Herearetheprobabilitiesforallnumbers2to12.

2 5 8 11

3 6 9 12

4 7 10

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 PreAlgebra
StatisticalMeasures

Statisticalmeasureshelpdescribeasetofdata.Adefinitionofanumberoftheseisprovidedinthetablebelow:

Concept Description Calculation Example1 Example2

DataSet Numbers 35,35,37,38,45 15,20,20,22,25,54

Addthevaluesand
35 35 37 38 45 15 18 22 22 25 54
Mean Average dividethetotalbythe 38 26
5 6
numberofvalues
Arrangethevaluesfrom
(1)
Median Middle lowtohighandtakethe 37 21(1)
middlevalue(1)
Thevaluethatappears
Mode Most mostofteninthedata 35 20
set
Thedifferencebetween
Range Size thehighestandlowest 4535=10 5415=39
valuesinthedataset
Valuesthatlookvery
(2)
Outliers Oddballs differentfromtheother none 54
valuesinthedataset

Notes:
(1) Ifthereareanevennumberofvalues,themedianistheaverageofthetwomiddlevalues.InExample2,themedianis21,
whichistheaverageof20and22.
(2) Thequestionofwhatconstitutesanoutlierisnotalwaysclear.Althoughstatisticiansseektominimizesubjectivityinthe
definitionofoutliers,differentanalystsmaychoosedifferentcriteriaforthesamedataset.

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 PreAlgebra
StemandLeafPlots

AStemandLeafPlotisawaytoorganizedata.Itisusefulforsmallsetsofdataonly.Forlarge
setsofdata,thetechniquebecomescumbersome.Fromastemandleafplot,itisrelatively
easytocalculatethekeystatisticalvalues:
Theminimumvalue.
Thefirstquartile. Inaddition,fromthemaximumvalue
Themedian. andtheminimumvalue,itispossible
tocalculatetherange(whichisthe
Thethirdquartile.
differencebetweenthetwovalues).
Themaximumvalue.

Inastemandleafplot,
Thedataarearrangedinatwocolumnchart.
Eachdatavalueissplitintotwoseparateparts,astemandaleaf.
Thestemsareplacedtotheleftoftheverticalline.Inacommonversionoftheplot,the
stemsareallofthedigitsofeachvalueexcepttheonesdigit.Aseparaterowis
createdforeachstem,innumericalorder.
Theleavesareplacedtotherightoftheverticalline.Intheversionoftheplot
mentionedabove,theleavesaretheonesdigitsofthevaluescorrespondingtoeach
stem.Thevaluesineachrowareplacedinnumericalorder,separatedbycommas.
Often,akeyisplacedontheplotwhichillustrateshowtheindividualdataaresplit
betweentheleafandthestem.

Example:Considerthefollowingdataset:

37, 41, 28, 52, 56, 32, 37, 42, 26, 37, 40, 37, 51, 48

Thestemandleafplotwouldbe:

Stem Leaves Noticethatinstemandleafform,the
dataareordered.Theyarealso
2 6,8
organizedinawaythatmakes
3 2,7,7,7,7 calculatingstatisticalmeasureslikethe

4 0,1,2,8 median,mode,firstandthirdquartiles,
andrangearerelativelyeasy.
5 1,2,6

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 PreAlgebra
BoxandWhiskerPlots

ABoxandWhiskerPlotisawaytopresentinformationaboutadataset.Thefollowing
informationaboutasetofdataisprovidedbyaboxandwhiskerplot:
Theminimumvalue.
Thefirstquartile. Inaddition,fromthemaximumvalue
Themedian. andtheminimumvalue,itispossible
tocalculatetherange(whichisthe
Thethirdquartile.
differencebetweenthetwovalues).
Themaximumvalue.

Aplotwithsmallboxesandbigwhiskerstellsusthatthedataisspreadout,whereasaplotwith
largeboxesandsmallwhiskerstellsusthatthedataismoretightlygrouped.

AFewPointsaboutDiscreetData
Whendatasetsconsistofasmallnumberofobservations,questionsariseabouttheprecise
definitionsoftheabovetermsinsomecircumstances.Inparticular,
Median:Whenvaluesarearrangedinorder,themedianisthemiddlevalue.Ifthe
numberofvaluesiseven,therearetwomiddlevalues;themedianistheirmean.
FirstQuartile:Thefirstquartileisthemedianofthelowerhalfofthevalues.When
thereareanoddnumberofvaluesoverall,themedianisomittedfromthiscalculation.
Thefirstquartileissometimesreferredtoasthelowerquartile.
ThirdQuartile:Thethirdquartileisthemedianoftheupperhalfofthevalues.When
thereareanoddnumberofvaluesoverall,themedianisomittedfromthiscalculation.
Thethirdquartileissometimesreferredtoastheupperquartile.

Example:
Createaboxandwhiskerplotforthefollowingordereddataset:

6, 8, 11, 13, 16, 20, 20, 23, 25

Thereare9values
Minimumvalue:6
Q1Firstquartile:9.5
Q2Median:16
Q3Thirdquartile:21.5
Maximumvalue:25

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 PreAlgebra
DistanceBetweenPoints

Distancemeasureshowfaraparttwothingsare.Thedistancebetweentwopointscanbe
measuredinanynumberofdimensions,andisdefinedasthelengthofthelineconnectingthe
twopoints.Distanceisalwaysapositivenumber.

1DimensionalDistance

Inonedimensionthedistancebetweentwopointsisdeterminedsimplybysubtractingthe
coordinatesofthepoints.

Example:Inthissegment,thedistancebetween2and5iscalculatedas:5 2 7.

2DimensionalDistance

Intwodimensions,thedistancebetweentwopointscanbecalculatedbyconsideringtheline
betweenthemtobethehypotenuseofarighttriangle.Todeterminethelengthofthisline:
Calculatethedifferenceinthexcoordinatesofthepoints
Calculatethedifferenceintheycoordinatesofthepoints
UsethePythagoreanTheorem.

Thisprocessisillustratedbelow,usingthevariabledfordistance.

Example:Findthedistancebetween(1,1)and(2,5).Basedonthe
illustrationtotheleft:
xcoordinatedifference:2 1 3.
ycoordinatedifference:5 1 4.

Then,thedistanceiscalculatedusingtheformula: 3 4 9 16 25
So,

Ifwedefinetwopointsgenerallyas(x1,y1)and(x2,y2),thena2dimensionaldistanceformula
wouldbe:

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 Geometry
Angles

PartsofanAngle
Anangleconsistsoftworayswithacommon
endpoint(or,initialpoint).
Eachrayisasideoftheangle.
Thecommonendpointiscalledthevertexof
theangle.

NamingAngles
Anglescanbenamedinoneoftwoways:
Pointvertexpointmethod.Inthismethod,theangleisnamedfromapointonone
ray,thevertex,andapointontheotherray.Thisisthemostunambiguousmethodof
naminganangle,andisusefulindiagramswithmultipleanglessharingthesamevertex.
Intheabovefigure,theangleshowncouldbenamed or .
Vertexmethod.Incaseswhereitisnotambiguous,ananglecanbenamedbasedsolely
onitsvertex.Intheabovefigure,theanglecouldbenamed .

MeasureofanAngle
Therearetwoconventionsformeasuringthesizeofanangle:
Indegrees.Thesymbolfordegreesis.Thereare360inafullcircle.Theangleabove
measuresapproximately45(oneeighthofacircle).
Inradians.Thereare2 radiansinacompletecircle.Theangleabovemeasures
approximately radians.

SomeTermsRelatingtoAngles
Angleinterioristheareabetweentherays.
Angleexterioristheareanotbetweentherays.
Adjacentanglesareanglesthatsharearayforaside. and
inthefigureatrightareadjacentangles.
Congruentanglesareaangleswiththesamemeasure.
Anglebisectorisaraythatdividestheangleintotwocongruent
angles.Ray bisects inthefigureatright.

Version 2.4 Page 67 of 107 April 2, 2017

 PreAlgebra
TypesofAngles

C
A B D

SupplementaryAngles ComplementaryAngles

AnglesAandBaresupplementary. AnglesCandDarecomplementary.
AnglesAandBformalinearpair.
90

180

Angleswhichareoppositeeachotherwhen
twolinescrossareverticalangles.
AnglesEandGareverticalangles.
F AnglesFandHareverticalangles.
E G
H

Inaddition,eachangleissupplementaryto
thetwoanglesadjacenttoit.Forexample:
VerticalAngles
AngleEissupplementarytoAnglesFandH.

Anacuteangleisonethatislessthan90.In
theillustrationabove,anglesEandGare
acuteangles.

Arightangleisonethatisexactly90.
Acute Obtuse
Anobtuseangleisonethatisgreaterthan
90.Intheillustrationabove,anglesFandH
areobtuseangles.
Astraightangleisonethatisexactly180.
Right Straight

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 PreAlgebra
ParallelLinesandTransversals

Transversal
Alternate:referstoanglesthatareon
oppositesidesofthetransversal.

A B Consecutive:referstoanglesthatare
onthesamesideofthetransversal.
C D
ParallelLines Interior:referstoanglesthatare
F betweentheparallellines.
E
H Exterior:referstoanglesthatare
G
outsidetheparallellines.

CorrespondingAngles
CorrespondingAnglesareanglesinthesamelocationrelativetotheparallellinesandthe
transversal.Forexample,theanglesontopoftheparallellinesandleftofthetransversal(i.e.,
topleft)arecorrespondingangles.

AnglesAandE(topleft)areCorrespondingAngles.SoareanglepairsBandF(topright),C
andG(bottomleft),andDandH(bottomright).Correspondinganglesarecongruent.

AlternateInteriorAngles
AnglesDandEareAlternateInteriorAngles.AnglesCandFarealsoalternateinteriorangles.
Alternateinterioranglesarecongruent.

AlternateExteriorAngles
AnglesAandHareAlternateExteriorAngles.AnglesBandGarealsoalternateexterior
angles.Alternateexterioranglesarecongruent.

ConsecutiveInteriorAngles
AnglesCandEareConsecutiveInteriorAngles.AnglesDandFarealsoconsecutiveinterior
angles.Alternateexterioranglesarecongruent.

NotethatanglesA,D,E,andHarecongruent,andanglesB,C,F,andGarecongruent.In
addition,eachoftheanglesinthefirstgrouparesupplementarytoeachoftheanglesinthe
secondgroup.

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 PreAlgebra
WhatMakesaTriangle?

Atriangleisaclosedpathwith3vertices(points),3sidesand3angles.
Inthetriangleatleft,
TheverticesarepointsA,B,andC.
thesidesare , , and .
Theanglesarethelocatedinsidethetriangleatthevertices.
Theyare , , and .

SizesofSides
TriangleInequality:Thesumofthelengthsofanytwosidesofa
triangleisgreaterthanthelengthofthethirdside.Thisisacrucial
elementindecidingwhethersegmentsofany3lengthscanforma
triangle.

Tip:Anotherwaytolookatthisistoarrangethesidesinorderofsize,smallesttolargest.
Then,ifthelargestsideislessthanthesumoftheothertwosides,thethreesidesmakeavalid
triangle.

SumofAngles
Inatriangle,thesumofthemeasuresofthe3anglesis180.Inthetriangleaboveleftonthis
page,thatmeansthat:
180
ThisisaveryimportantfactinGeometry;youwillberequiredtorecallthisonalmostadaily
basisinworkingwithtriangles.

CongruentTriangles
Twotrianglesarecongruentiftheyhavethesameexactdimensions.Thatis,allofthesidesare
thesamelengthandalloftheangleshavethesamemeasure.Theydonotneedtobefacing
thesameway,theyjustneedtohavethesamemeasuresofsidesandangles.

Version 2.4 Page 70 of 107 April 2, 2017

 PreAlgebra
TypesofTriangles

Scalene
AScaleneTrianglehas3sidesofdifferent
lengths.Becausethesidesareof
differentlengths,theanglesmustalsobe
ofdifferentmeasures.
Isosceles
AnIsoscelesTrianglehas2sidesthesame
length(i.e.,congruent).Becausetwo
sidesarecongruent,twoanglesmustalso
becongruent.

Equilateral
AnEquilateralTrianglehasall3sidesthe
samelength(i.e.,congruent).Becauseall
3sidesarecongruent,all3anglesmust
alsobecongruent.Thisrequireseach
angletobe60.
Right
ARightTriangle isonethatcontainsa90
angle.Itmaybescaleneorisosceles,but
cannotbeequilateral.Righttriangles
havesidesthatmeettherequirementsof
thePythagoreanTheorem.

60 60

60

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 PreAlgebra
PythagoreanTheorem

Inarighttriangle,thePythagoreanTheoremsays:

where,
a and b are the lengths of the legs of a right
triangle,and
cisthelengthofthehypotenuse.

Right,Acute,orObtuseTriangle?
Inadditiontoallowingthesolutionofrighttriangles,thePythagoreanFormulacanbeusedto
determinewhetheratriangleisarighttriangle,anacutetriangle,oranobtusetriangle.

Todeterminewhetheratriangleisobtuse,right,oracute:
Arrangethelengthsofthesidesfromlowtohigh;callthema,b,andc,inincreasingorder
Calculate: , , and .
Compare: vs.
Usetheillustrationsbelowtodeterminewhichtypeoftriangleyouhave.

ObtuseTriangle RightTriangle AcuteTriangle

Example: Example: Example:

Trianglewithsides:7,9,12 Trianglewithsides:6,8,10 Trianglewithsides:5,8,9

7 9 . 12 6 8 . 10 5 8 . 9
49 81 144 36 64 100 25 64 81

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 PreAlgebra
PythagoreanTriples

PythagoreanTheorem:

Pythagoreantriplesaresetsof3positiveintegersthatmeettherequirementsofthe
PythagoreanTheorem.Becausethesesetsofintegersprovideprettysolutionstogeometry
problems,theyareafavoriteofgeometrybooksandteachers.Knowingwhattriplesexistcan
helpthestudentquicklyidentifysolutionstoproblemsthatmightotherwisetakeconsiderable
timetosolve.

345TriangleFamily 72425TriangleFamily
Sample Sample
Triples Triples
345 72425

6810 144850
91215

217275
121620 ...
304050
70240250


9 16 25 49 576 625

51213TriangleFamily 81517TriangleFamily
Sample Sample
Triples Triples

51213 81517

102426 163034

153639 244551


... ...
50120130 80150170

25 144 169 64 225 289

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 PreAlgebra
RatiosandProportions

Ratiosarefractionsthatrelatetwoitems.Forexample,inbaseball,theratioofthenumberof
abattershittothenumberofhisatbatsprovideshisbattingaverage.Thatis:

Proportionsarerelationshipsbetweenratios.Forexample,iftwobattershavethesame
battingaverage,then:
" " " "

" " " "

So,forexample,ifweknowthat has26hitsin80atbats,and ,withthe

samebattingaveragehas120atbats,letscalculate .
Fromtheproportionabove,weknowthat:
26

80 120

Proportionsareusuallysolvedbycrossmultiplying.Intheexample,
26 120 80

RatiosInvolvingUnits
Example:
Whensimplifyingratioscontainingthesameunits:
Simplifythefraction. 3 1

12 4
Notice that the units disappear. They behave
just like factors; if the units exist in the Note:theunitinchescancelout,so
numeratoranddenominator,thecancelandare theansweris ,not .
notintheanswer.
Whensimplifyingratioscontainingdifferentunits:
Adjusttheratiosothatthenumeratoranddenominatorhavethesameunits.
Simplifythefraction.
Noticethattheunitsdisappear.

Example:
3 3 3 1

2 2 12 24 8

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 PreAlgebra
SimilarTriangles

SimilarTriangleParts
Insimilartriangles,
Correspondingsidesareproportional.
Correspondinganglesarecongruent.

Inworkingwithsimilartrianglesiscrucialtolineupcorrespondingvertices.Oncethisisdone,
therestofthepicturebecomesclear.Inthepictureabove,
PointAcorrespondstoPointD.
PointBcorrespondstoPointE.
PointCcorrespondstoPointF.

NamingSimilarTriangles
BasedontheaboveCorrespondences,wecansay:

~ or ~ or ~ or
~ or ~ or ~

Allofthesearecorrectbecausetheymatchcorrespondingpartsinthenaming.Eachofthese
similaritiesimpliesthefollowingrelationshipsbetweenpartsofthetwotriangles:

Angles: and and

Sides:

Therelationshipsamongthesidesofthetrianglesallowustocalculateinformationaboutsome
ofthesidesbasedoninformationaboutothersides.Forexample,ifweknowthat 6,
12and 10,wecancalculate asfollows:

6 120

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 PreAlgebra
ProportionTablesforSimilarTriangles

SettingUpaTableofProportions

Itisoftenusefultosetupatabletoidentifytheproperproportions
inasimilarity.Considerthefiguretotheright.Thetablemightlook
somethinglikethis:

Triangle LeftSide RightSide BottomSide

Top AB BC CA

Bottom DE EF FD

Thepurposeofatablelikethisistoorganizetheinformationyouhaveaboutthesimilar
trianglessothatyoucanreadilydeveloptheproportionsyouneed.

DevelopingtheProportions

Todevelopproportionsfromthetable:
Extractthecolumnsneededfromthetable:

AB BC
DE EF Alsofromtheabove
table,
Eliminatethetablelines.
Replacethehorizontallineswithdivisionlines.

Putanequalsignbetweenthetworesultingfractions:

Solvingfortheunknownlengthofaside:
Youcanextractanytwocolumnsyoulikefromthetable.Usually,youwillhaveinformationon
lengthsofthreeofthesidesandwillbeaskedtocalculateafourth.

Lookinthetableforthecolumnsthatcontainthe4sidesinquestion,andthensetupyour
proportion.Substituteknownvaluesintotheproportion,andsolvefortheremainingvariable.

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 PreAlgebra
DefinitionsofQuadrilaterals

Name Definition
Quadrilateral Apolygonwith4sides.

Aquadrilateralwithtwoconsecutivepairsofcongruentsides,but
Kite
withoppositesidesnotcongruent.

Trapezoid Aquadrilateralwithexactlyonepairofparallelsides.

IsoscelesTrapezoid Atrapezoidwithcongruentlegs.

Parallelogram Aquadrilateralwithbothpairsofoppositesidesparallel.

Rectangle Aparallelogramwithallanglescongruent(i.e.,rightangles).

Rhombus Aparallelogramwithallsidescongruent.

Square Aquadrilateralwithallsidescongruentandallanglescongruent.

QuadrilateralTree:

Quadrilateral

Kite Parallelogram Trapezoid

Rectangle Rhombus Isosceles

Trapezoid

Square

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 PreAlgebra
FiguresofQuadrilaterals

Kite Trapezoid IsoscelesTrapezoid

2consecutivepairsof 1pairofparallelsides 1pairofparallelsides

congruentsides (calledbases) Congruentlegs

1pairofcongruent Anglesonthesame 2pairofcongruentbase

oppositeangles sideofthebasesare angles
Diagonalsperpendicular supplementary Diagonalscongruent

Parallelogram Rectangle
Bothpairsofoppositesidesparallel Parallelogramwithallangles

Bothpairsofoppositesidescongruent congruent(i.e.,rightangles)

Bothpairsofoppositeanglescongruent Diagonalscongruent

Consecutiveanglessupplementary

Diagonalsbisecteachother

Rhombus Square
Parallelogramwithallsidescongruent BothaRhombusandaRectangle
Diagonalsperpendicular Allanglescongruent(i.e.,rightangles)
Eachdiagonalbisectsapairof Allsidescongruent
oppositeangles

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 PreAlgebra
CharacteristicsofParallelograms

Characteristic Square Rhombus Rectangle Parallelogram

2pairofparallelsides

Oppositesidesarecongruent

Oppositeanglesarecongruent

Consecutiveanglesaresupplementary

Diagonalsbisecteachother

All4anglesarecongruent(i.e.,rightangles)

Diagonalsarecongruent

All4sidesarecongruent

Diagonalsareperpendicular

Eachdiagonalbisectsapairofoppositeangles

Notes:Red marksareconditionssufficienttoprovethequadrilateralisofthetypespecified.
Green marksareconditionssufficienttoprovethequadrilateralisofthetypespecifiedifthequadrilateralisa
parallelogram.

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 PreAlgebra
KitesandTrapezoids

FactsaboutaKite
Toproveaquadrilateralisakite,prove:
Ithastwopairofcongruentsides.
Oppositesidesarenotcongruent.

Also,ifaquadrilateralisakite,then:
Itsdiagonalsareperpendicular
Ithasexactlyonepairofcongruentoppositeangles.

PartsofaTrapezoid Base
Midsegment
TrapezoidABCDhasthefollowingparts:
Leg
and arebases.
and arelegs. Leg
isthemidsegment.
and arediagonals.
AnglesAandDformapairofbaseangles.
Diagonals
AnglesBandCformapairofbaseangles. Base

TrapezoidMidsegmentTheorem
Themidsegmentofatrapezoidisparalleltoeachofitsbasesand: .

ProvingaQuadrilateralisanIsoscelesTrapezoid
Toproveaquadrilateralisanisoscelestrapezoid,proveanyofthefollowingconditions:
1. Itisatrapezoidandhasapairofcongruentlegs.(definitionofisoscelestrapezoid)
2. Itisatrapezoidandhasapairofcongruentbaseangles.
3. Itisatrapezoidanditsdiagonalsarecongruent.

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 PreAlgebra
IntroductiontoTransformation

ATransformationisamappingofthepreimageofageometricfigureontoanimagethat
retainskeycharacteristicsofthepreimage.

Definitions
ThePreImageisthegeometricfigurebeforeithasbeentransformed.

TheImageisthegeometricfigureafterithasbeentransformed.

Amappingisanassociationbetweenobjects.Transformationsaretypesofmappings.Inthe
figuresbelow,wesayABCDismappedontoABCD,or .Theorderofthe
verticesiscriticaltoaproperlynamedmapping.

AnIsometryisaonetoonemappingthatpreserveslengths.Transformationsthatare
isometries(i.e.,preservelength)arecalledrigidtransformations.

IsometricTransformations

Reflectionisflippinga Rotationisturninga Translationisslidinga

figureacrossalinecalled figurearoundapoint. figureintheplanesothat
amirror.Thefigure Rotatedfiguresretain itchangeslocationbut
retainsitssizeandshape, theirsizeandshape,but retainsitsshape,sizeand
butappearsbackwards nottheirorientation. orientation.

afterthereflection.

TableofCharacteristicsofIsometricTransformations

Transformation Reflection Rotation Translation

Isometry(RetainsLengths)? Yes Yes Yes
RetainsAngles? Yes Yes Yes
RetainsOrientationtoAxes? No No Yes

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 PreAlgebra
IntroductiontoTransformation(contd)

TransformationofaPoint
Apointistheeasiestobjecttotransform.Simplyreflect,rotateortranslateitfollowingthe
rulesforthetransformationselected.Bytransformingkeypointsfirst,anytransformation
becomesmucheasier.

TransformationofaGeometricFigure
Totransformanygeometricfigure,itisonlynecessarytotransformtheitemsthatdefinethe
figure,andthenreformit.Forexample:
Totransformalinesegment,transformitstwoendpoints,andthenconnectthe
resultingimageswithalinesegment.
Totransformaray,transformtheinitialpointandanyotherpointontheray,andthen
constructarayusingtheresultingimages.
Totransformaline,transformanytwopointsontheline,andthenfitalinethroughthe
resultingimages.
Totransformapolygon,transformeachofitsvertices,andthenconnecttheresulting
imageswithlinesegments.
Totransformacircle,transformitscenterand,ifnecessary,itsradius.Fromthe
resultingimages,constructtheimagecircle.
Totransformotherconicsections(parabolas,ellipsesandhyperbolas),transformthe
foci,verticesand/ordirectrix.Fromtheresultingimages,constructtheimageconic
section.

Example:ReflectQuadrilateralABCD

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 PreAlgebra
Reflection

Definitions
Reflectionisflippingafigureacrossamirror.
TheLineofReflectionisthemirrorthroughwhichthe
reflectiontakesplace.
Notethat:
Thelinesegmentconnectingcorrespondingpointsin
theimageandpreimageisbisectedbythemirror.
Thelinesegmentconnectingcorrespondingpointsin
theimageandpreimageisperpendiculartothemirror.

ReflectionthroughanAxisortheLine
Reflectionofthepoint(a,b)throughthexoryaxisortheline givesthefollowing
results:

PreImage Mirror Image

Point Line Point
(a, b) xaxis (a, b)
(a, b) yaxis (a, b)
(a, b) the line: (a, b)

Ifyouforgettheabovetable,startwiththepoint 3, 2 onasetofcoordinateaxes.Reflect
thepointthroughtheselectedlineandseewhichsetofa,bcoordinatesworks.

LineofSymmetry
ALineofSymmetryisanylinethroughwhichafigurecanbemappedontoitself.Thethinblack
linesinthefollowingfiguresshowtheiraxesofsymmetry:

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 PreAlgebra
Rotation

Definitions
Rotationisturningafigurebyanangleaboutafixedpoint.
TheCenterofRotationisthepointaboutwhichthefigureis
rotated.PointP,atright,isthecenterofrotation.
TheAngleofRotationdeterminestheextentoftherotation.
Theangleisformedbytheraysthatconnectthecenterof
rotationtothepreimageandtheimageoftherotation.Angle
P,atright,istheangleofrotation.Thoughshownonlyfor
PointA,theangleisthesameforanyofthefigures4vertices.

Note:Inperformingrotations,itisimportanttoindicatethedirectionoftherotation
clockwiseorcounterclockwise.

RotationabouttheOrigin
Rotationofthepoint(a,b)abouttheorigin(0,0)givesthefollowingresults:

PreImage Clockwise Counterclockwise Image

Point Rotation Rotation Point
(a, b) 90 270 (b, a)
(a, b) 180 180 (a, b)
(a, b) 270 90 (b, a)
(a, b) 360 360 (a, b)

Ifyouforgettheabovetable,startwiththepoint 3, 2 onasetofcoordinateaxes.Rotatethe
pointbytheselectedangleandseewhichsetofa,bcoordinatesworks.

RotationalSymmetry
AfigureinaplanehasRotationalSymmetryifitcanbemappedontoitselfbyarotationof
180orless.Anyregularpolygonhasrotationalsymmetry,asdoesacircle.Herearesome
examplesoffigureswithrotationalsymmetry:

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 PreAlgebra
Translation

Definitions

Translationisslidingafigureintheplane.Each
pointinthefigureismovedthesamedistancein

thesamedirection.Theresultisanimagethat

looksthesameasthepreimageineveryway,
exceptithasbeenmovedtoadifferentlocation

intheplane.

Eachofthefourorangelinesegmentsinthe

figureatrighthasthesamelengthanddirection.

WhenTwoReflections OneTranslation
Iftwomirrorsareparallel,thenreflectionthrough
oneofthem,followedbyareflectionthroughthe
secondisatranslation.
Inthefigureatright,theblacklinesshowthepaths
ofthetworeflections;thisisalsothepathofthe
resultingtranslation.Notethefollowing:
Thedistanceoftheresultingtranslation
(e.g.,fromAtoA)isdoublethedistance
betweenthemirrors.
Theblacklinesofmovementareperpendiculartobothmirrors.

DefiningTranslationsintheCoordinatePlane(UsingVectors)
Atranslationmoveseachpointbythesamedistanceinthesamedirection.Inthecoordinate
plane,thisisequivalenttomovingeachpointthesameamountinthexdirectionandthesame
amountintheydirection.Thiscombinationofxandydirectionmovementisdescribedbya
mathematicalconceptcalledavector.

Intheabovefigure,translationfromAto moves10inthexdirectionandthe3inthey
direction.Invectornotation,thisis: , .Noticethehalfraysymboloverthe
twopointsandthefunnylookingbracketsaroundthemovementvalues.

So,thetranslationresultingfromthetworeflectionsintheabovefiguremoveseachpointof
thepreimagebythevector .Everytranslationcanbedefinedbythevectorrepresenting
itsmovementinthecoordinateplane.

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 PreAlgebra
Compositions

Whenmultipletransformationsarecombined,theresultiscalledaCompositionofthe
Transformations.Twoexamplesofthisare:
Combiningtworeflectionsthroughparallelmirrorstogenerateatranslation(seethe
previouspage).
Combiningatranslationandareflectiontogeneratewhatiscalledaglidereflection.
Theglidepartofthenamereferstotranslation,whichisakindofglidingofafigureon
theplane.

Note:Inaglidereflection,ifthelineofreflectionisparalleltothedirectionofthe
translation,itdoesnotmatterwhetherthereflectionorthetranslationisperformedfirst.

Figure1:TranslationfollowedbyReflection. Figure2:ReflectionfollowedbyTranslation.

CompositionTheorem
ThecompositionofmultipleisometriesisasIsometry.Putmoresimply,iftransformationsthat
preservelengtharecombined,thecompositionwillpreservelength.Thisisalsotrueof
compositionsoftransformationsthatpreserveanglemeasure.

OrderofComposition
Ordermattersinmostcompositionsthatinvolvemorethanoneclassoftransformation.Ifyou
applymultipletransformationsofthesamekind(e.g.,reflection,rotation,ortranslation),order
generallydoesnotmatter;however,applyingtransformationsinmorethanoneclassmay
producedifferentfinalimagesiftheorderisswitched.

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 PreAlgebra
PolygonsBasics

BasicDefinitions
Polygon:aclosedpathofthreeormorelinesegments,where:
notwosideswithacommonendpointarecollinear,and
eachsegmentisconnectedatitsendpointstoexactlytwoothersegments.
Side:asegmentthatisconnectedtoothersegments(whicharealsosides)toformapolygon.
Vertex:apointattheintersectionoftwosidesofthepolygon.(pluralform:vertices)
Diagonal:asegment,fromonevertextoanother,whichisnotaside.

Vertex

Diagonal
Side

Concave:Apolygoninwhichitispossibletodrawadiagonaloutsidethe
polygon.(Noticetheorangediagonaldrawnoutsidethepolygonat
right.)Concavepolygonsactuallylookliketheyhaveacaveinthem.

Convex:Apolygoninwhichitisnotpossibletodrawadiagonaloutsidethe
polygon.(Noticethatalloftheorangediagonalsareinsidethepolygon
atright.)Convexpolygonsappearmoreroundedanddonotcontain
caves.

NamesofSomeCommonPolygons

Number Number Namesofpolygons

ofSides NameofPolygon ofSides NameofPolygon aregenerallyformed
3 Triangle 9 Nonagon fromtheGreek
language;however,
4 Quadrilateral 10 Decagon
somehybridformsof
5 Pentagon 11 Undecagon LatinandGreek(e.g.,
6 Hexagon 12 Dodecagon undecagon)have
7 Heptagon 20 Icosagon creptintocommon
usage.
8 Octagon n ngon

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 PreAlgebra
PolygonsMoreDefinitions

Definitions AdvancedDefinitions:
Equilateral:apolygoninwhichallofthesidesareequalinlength. SimplePolygon:a
Equiangular:apolygoninwhichalloftheangleshavethesame polygonwhosesidesdo
measure. notintersectatany
locationotherthanits
Regular:apolygonwhichisbothequilateralandequiangular.That endpoints.Simple
is,aregularpolygonisoneinwhichallofthesideshavethesame polygonsalwaysdividea
lengthandalloftheangleshavethesamemeasure. planeintotworegions
oneinsidethepolygonand
oneoutsidethepolygon.
InteriorAngle:Anangleformedbytwosidesofapolygon.The
ComplexPolygon:a
angleisinsidethepolygon.
polygonwithsidesthat
ExteriorAngle:Anangleformedbyonesideofapolygonandthe intersectsomeplaceother
linecontaininganadjacentsideofthepolygon.Theangleisoutside thantheirendpoints(i.e.,
thepolygon. notasimplepolygon).
Complexpolygonsdonot
alwayshavewelldefined
insidesandoutsides.

Exterior Interior SkewPolygon:apolygon
Angle Angle forwhichnotallofits

verticeslieonthesame
plane.

HowManyDiagonalsDoesaConvexPolygonHave?
Believeitornot,thisisacommonquestionwithasimplesolution.Considerapolygonwithn
sidesand,therefore,nvertices.
Eachofthenverticesofthepolygoncanbeconnectedto otherverticeswith
diagonals.Thatis,itcanbeconnectedtoallotherverticesexceptitselfandthetwoto
whichitisconnectedbysides.So,thereare linestobedrawnasdiagonals.
However,whenwedothis,wedraweachdiagonaltwicebecausewedrawitoncefrom
eachofitstwoendpoints.So,thenumberofdiagonalsisactuallyhalfofthenumberwe
calculatedabove.
Therefore,thenumberofdiagonalsinannsidedpolygonis:

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 PreAlgebra
InteriorandExteriorAnglesofaPolygon

InteriorAngles
InteriorAngles
Thesumoftheinterioranglesinan sidedpolygonis: Sumof Each
Sides Interior Interior
Angles Angle
3 180 60
Ifthepolygonisregular,youcancalculatethemeasureof 4 360 90
eachinteriorangleas: 5 540 108
6 720 120
7 900 129

8 1,080 135
9 1,260 140
Notation:TheGreekletterisequivalent 10 1,440 144
totheEnglishletterSandismathshorthand
forasummation(i.e.,addition)ofthings.

ExteriorAngles
ExteriorAngles
Nomatterhowmanysidesthereareinapolygon,thesum Sumof Each
oftheexterioranglesis: Sides Exterior Exterior
Angles Angle
3 360 120
4 360 90
Ifthepolygonisregular,youcancalculatethemeasureof
5 360 72
eachexteriorangleas:
6 360 60

7 360 51

8 360 45
9 360 40
10 360 36

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 PreAlgebra
PerimeterandAreaofaTriangle

PerimeterofaTriangle
Theperimeterofatriangleissimplythesumofthemeasuresofthethreesidesofthetriangle.

AreaofaTriangle
Therearetwoformulasfortheareaofatriangle,dependingonwhatinformationaboutthe
triangleisavailable.
Formula1:Theformulamostfamiliartothestudentcanbeusedwhenthebaseandheightof
thetriangleareeitherknownorcanbedetermined.

where, isthelengthofthebaseofthetriangle.
istheheightofthetriangle.

Note:Thebasecanbeanysideofthetriangle.Theheightisthemeasureofthealtitudeof
whicheversideisselectedasthebase.So,youcanuse:

or or

Formula2:Anotherformulafortheareaofatrianglecanbeused
whenthelengthsofallofthesidesareknown.Sometimesthisformula,
thoughlessappealing,canbeveryuseful.

where, . Note: issometimescalledthesemiperimeterofthetriangle

, , arethelengthsofthesidesofthetriangle.

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 PreAlgebra
PerimeterandAreaofQuadrilaterals

Name Illustration Perimeter Area

1
Kite 2 2
2

1
Trapezoid
2

Parallelogram 2 2

Rectangle 2 2

1
Rhombus 4
2

1
Square 4
2

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 PreAlgebra
CircleLengthsandAreas

CircumferenceandArea

isthecircumference(i.e.,theperimeter)ofthecircle.
istheareaofthecircle.

where: istheradiusofthecircle.

LengthofanArconaCircle

Acommonprobleminthegeometryofcirclesistomeasurethelengthofanarconacircle.
Definition:Anarcisasegmentalongthecircumferenceofacircle.

where: ABisthemeasure(indegrees)ofthearc.Notethat
thisisalsothemeasureofthecentralangle .
isthecircumferenceofthecircle.

AreaofaSectorofaCircle

Anothercommonprobleminthegeometryofcirclesistomeasuretheareaofasectoracircle.
Definition:Asectorisaregioninacirclethatisboundedbytworadiiandanarcofthecircle.

where: ABisthemeasure(indegrees)ofthearc.Notethat
thisisalsothemeasureofthecentralangle .
istheareaofthecircle.

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 PreAlgebra
Prisms

Definitions
APrismisapolyhedronwithtwocongruentpolygonalfaces
thatlieinparallelplanes.
TheBasesaretheparallelpolygonalfaces.
TheLateralFacesarethefacesthatarenotbases.
TheLateralEdgesaretheedgesbetweenthelateralfaces.
TheSlantHeightisthelengthofalateraledge.Notethat
alllateraledgesarethesamelength.
TheHeightistheperpendicularlengthbetweenthebases.

ARightPrismisoneinwhichtheanglesbetweenthebasesandthe
lateraledgesarerightangles.Notethatinarightprism,theheightand
theslantheightarethesame.
AnObliquePrismisonethatisnotarightprism.
RightHexagonal
Prism
TheSurfaceAreaofaprismisthesumoftheareasofallitsfaces.
TheLateralAreaofaprismisthesumoftheareasofitslateralfaces.

SurfaceAreaandVolumeofaRightPrism
SurfaceArea: where,

LateralSA:
Volume:

CavalierisPrinciple
Iftwosolidshavethesameheightandthesamecrosssectionalareaateverylevel,thenthey
havethesamevolume.Thisprincipleallowsustoderiveaformulaforthevolumeofan
obliqueprismfromtheformulaforthevolumeofarightprism.

SurfaceAreaandVolumeofanObliquePrism
SurfaceArea: where,

LateralSA:
Volume:

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 PreAlgebra
Cylinders

Definitions
ACylinderisafigurewithtwocongruentcircularbasesinparallelplanes.
AcylinderhasonlyoneLateralSurface.Whendeconstructed,thelateralsurfaceofa
cylinderisarectanglewithlengthequaltothecircumferenceofthebase.
TherearenoLateralEdgesinacylinder.
TheSlantHeightisthelengthofthelateralsidebetweenthebases.Note
thatalllateraldistancesarethesamelength.Theslantheighthas
applicabilityonlyifthecylinderisoblique.
TheHeightistheperpendicularlengthbetweenthebases.

ARightCylinderisoneinwhichtheanglesbetweenthebasesandthelateralsideareright
angles.Notethatinarightcylinder,theheightandtheslantheightarethesame.
AnObliqueCylinderisonethatisnotarightcylinder.

TheSurfaceAreaofacylinderisthesumoftheareasofitsbasesanditslateralsurface.
TheLateralAreaofacylinderistheareasofitslateralsurface.

SurfaceAreaandVolumeofaRightCylinder
SurfaceArea: where,


LateralSA:

Volume:

SurfaceAreaandVolumeofanObliquePrism
SurfaceArea: where,


LateralSA:
Volume:

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 PreAlgebra
SurfaceAreabyDecomposition

Sometimesthestudentisaskedtocalculatethesurfaceareofaprismthatdoesnotquitefit
intooneofthecategoriesforwhichaneasyformulaexists.Inthiscase,theanswermaybeto
decomposetheprismintoitscomponentshapes,andthencalculatetheareasofthe
components.Note:thisprocessalsoworkswithcylindersandpyramids.

DecompositionofaPrism
Tocalculatethesurfaceareaofaprism,decomposeitandlookateachoftheprismsfaces
individually.
Example:Calculatethesurfaceareaofthetriangularprismatright.
Todothis,firstnoticethatweneedthevalueofthehypotenuseofthe
base.UsethePythagoreanTheoremorPythagoreanTriplesto
determinethemissingvalueis10.Then,decomposethefigureintoits
variousfaces:

Thesurfacearea,then,iscalculatedas:
2

1
2 68 10 7 87 67 216
2

DecompositionofaCone
Thecylinderatrightis
decomposedintotwocircles(the
bases)andarectangle(thelateral

face).
Thesurfacearea,then,iscalculatedas:

2 3 6 5 48 ~ 150.80

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 PreAlgebra
Pyramids

Pyramids
APyramidisapolyhedroninwhichthebaseisapolygonand
thelateralsidesaretriangleswithacommonvertex.
TheBaseisapolygonofanysizeorshape.
TheLateralFacesarethefacesthatarenotthebase.
TheLateralEdgesaretheedgesbetweenthelateralfaces.
TheApexofthepyramidistheintersectionofthelateral
edges.Itisthepointatthetopofthepyramid.
TheSlantHeightofaregularpyramidisthealtitudeofoneof
thelateralfaces.
TheHeightistheperpendicularlengthbetweenthebaseandtheapex.

ARegularPyramidisoneinwhichthelateralfacesarecongruenttriangles.Theheightofa
regularpyramidintersectsthebaseatitscenter.
AnObliquePyramidisonethatisnotarightpyramid.Thatis,the
apexisnotaligneddirectlyabovethecenterofthebase.

TheSurfaceAreaofapyramidisthesumoftheareasofallits
faces.
TheLateralAreaofapyramidisthesumoftheareasofitslateral
faces.

SurfaceAreaandVolumeofaRegularPyramid
where,
SurfaceArea:

LateralSA:

Volume:

SurfaceAreaandVolumeofanObliquePyramid
where,
SurfaceArea:

Volume:

Thelateralsurfaceareaofanobliquepyramidisthesumof

theareasofthefaces,whichmustbecalculatedindividually.

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 PreAlgebra
Cones

Definitions
ACircularConeisa3dimensionalgeometricfigurewithacircularbasewhichtapers
smoothlytoavertex(orapex).Theapexandbaseareindifferentplanes.Note:thereis
alsoanellipticalconethathasanellipseasabase,butthatwillnotbeconsideredhere.
TheBaseisacircle.
TheLateralSurfaceisareaofthefigurebetweenthebaseandtheapex.
TherearenoLateralEdgesinacone.
TheApexoftheconeisthepointatthetopofthecone.
TheSlantHeightofaconeisthelengthalongthelateralsurfacefromtheapextothebase.
TheHeightistheperpendicularlengthbetweenthebaseandtheapex.

ARightConeisoneinwhichtheheightoftheconeintersectsthebaseat
itscenter.
AnObliqueConeisonethatisnotarightcone.Thatis,theapexisnot
aligneddirectlyabovethecenterofthebase.

TheSurfaceAreaofaconeisthesumoftheareaofitslateralsurface
anditsbase.
TheLateralAreaofaconeistheareaofitslateralsurface.

SurfaceAreaandVolumeofaRightCone
SurfaceArea: where,

LateralSA:

Volume:

SurfaceAreaandVolumeofanObliqueCone
SurfaceArea: where,

Volume:

Thereisnoeasyformulaforthelateralsurfaceareaofan
obliquecone.

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 PreAlgebra
Spheres

Definitions
ASphereisa3dimensionalgeometricfigureinwhichall
pointsareafixeddistancefromapoint.Agoodexampleof
asphereisaball.
Centerthemiddleofthesphere.Allpointsonthesphere
arethesamedistancefromthecenter.
Radiusalinesegmentwithoneendpointatthecenterand
theotherendpointonthesphere.Thetermradiusisalso
usedtorefertothedistancefromthecentertothepoints
onthesphere.
Diameteralinesegmentwithendpointsonthesphere
thatpassesthroughthecenter.
GreatCircletheintersectionofaplaneandasphere
thatpassesthroughthecenter.
Hemispherehalfofasphere.Agreatcircleseparatesa
planeintotwohemispheres.
SecantLinealinethatintersectsthesphereinexactly
onepoint.
TangentLinealinethatintersectsthesphereinexactly
twopoints.
Chordalinesegmentwithendpointsonthespherethatdoesnotpassthroughthecenter.

SurfaceAreaandVolumeofaSphere
SurfaceArea:

Volume:

where,

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 Geometry
SummaryofPerimeterandAreaFormulas2DShapes

Shape Figure Perimeter Area


 
Kite





Trapezoid

 





Parallelogram 



 

Rectangle 




 
Rhombus
 


 
Square
 

  
RegularPolygon 

 



 
Circle 



  
Ellipse    
  

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 Geometry
SummaryofSurfaceAreaandVolumeFormulas3DShapes

Shape Figure SurfaceArea Volume



Sphere  





 
Right
 
Cylinder
 



 
Cone







Square  

Pyramid 





 
Rectangular
Prism  
 
 


 
Cube
  

  
General
 
RightPrism  




Version 2.4 Page 100 of 107 April 2, 2017

 Addition Table

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11

2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13

4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14

5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15

6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16

7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17

8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18

9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19

10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20

Version 2.4 Page 101 of 107 April 2, 2017

 Multiplication Table

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

1 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

2 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20

3 3 6 9 12 15 18 21 24 27 30

4 4 8 12 16 20 24 28 32 36 40

5 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50

6 6 12 18 24 30 36 42 48 54 60

7 7 14 21 28 35 42 49 56 63 70

8 8 16 24 32 40 48 56 64 72 80

9 9 18 27 36 45 54 63 72 81 90

10 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100

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 PreAlgebra Handbook
Index

Page Subject

101 AdditionTable
21 AlgebraicProperties
Angles
67 AnglesBasic
68 AnglesTypes
Area
91 AreaQuadrilaterals
92 AreaRegionofaCircle
90 AreaTriangle
99 AreaFormulasSummaryfor2DShapes
21 AssociativeProperty
65 BoxandWhiskerGraphs
93 Cavalieri'sPrinciple
Circles
92 CirclesArcLengths
92 CirclesRegionAreas
21 ClosureProperty
21 CommutativeProperty
Cones
97 ConesDefinitions
97 ConesSurfaceAreaandVolume
46 CoordinatesinaPlane
Cylinders
94 CylindersDefinitions
94 CylindersSurfaceAreaandVolume
Decimals
30 DecimalsAdditionandSubtraction
31 DecimalsComparing
33 DecimalsConversionstoPercentsandFractions
30 DecimalsDivision
30 DecimalsMultiplication
32 DecimalsRounding
34 DecimalsTableofConversions
66 DistanceBetweenPoints1Dimensionaland2Dimensional
21 DistributiveProperty
8 DivisibilityRules(2to12)
Equations
49 EquationsMultiStep
50 EquationsMultiStepEquationTipsandTricks
48 EquationsOneStep
51 EquationsSolvingforaVariable

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 PreAlgebra Handbook
Index

Page Subject

71 EquilateralTriangle
41 ExponentFormulas
14,15 FactorsFindingAllFactorsofaNumber
Fractions
24 FractionsAdditionandSubtraction
31 FractionsComparing
33 FractionsConversionstoDecimalsandPercents
26 FractionsLowestTerms
25 FractionsMultiplicationandDivision
34 FractionsTableofConversions
12 GreatestCommonDivisor(GCD)
12 GreatestCommonFactor(GCF)
21 IdentityProperty
26 ImproperFractions
Inequalities
52 Inequalities
54 InequalitiesCompoundInequalitiesinOneDimension
53 InequalitiesGraphsinOneDimension
21 InverseProperty
71 IsoscelesTriangle
17 KingHenryRuleforMetricConversions
80 Kites
13 LeastCommonMultiple(LCM)
55 LinesPlottingUsingtCharts
LinearEquations
59 PointSlopeFormofaLine
59 SlopeInterceptFormofaLine
59 StandardFormofaLine
13 LowestCommonDenominator(LCD)
47 MathWordsConvertingtoMathematicalExpressions
63 Mean
MeasuresandWeights
17 MeasuresandWeightsMetricConversions
18 MeasuresandWeightsU.S.Conversions
19 MeasuresandWeightsU.S./MetricConversions
63 Median
MixedNumbers
27 MixedNumbersAdditionandSubtraction
29 MixedNumbersDivision
26 MixedNumbersGeneral
28 MixedNumbersMultiplication

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 PreAlgebra Handbook
Index

Page Subject

63 Mode
102 MultiplicationTable
NumberPatterns
22 NumberPatternsConvertingaLinearPatterntoanEquation
22 NumberPatternsRecognizingLinearPatterns
61 Odds
23 OperatingwithRealNumbers
OrderofOperations
20 OrderofOperationsParentheticalDevice
20 OrderofOperationsPEMDAS
60 ParallelandPerpendicularLinesSlopes
69 ParallelLinesandTransversals
79 ParallelogramsCharacteristics
Percent
36,37 PercentDecrease
35,37 PercentIncrease
33 PercentsConversionstoDecimalsandFractions
34 PercentsTableofConversions
Perimeter
92 PerimeterArcLengthofaCircle
91 PerimeterQuadrilaterals
90 PerimeterTriangle
99 PerimeterFormulasSummaryfor2DShapes
38 PieCharts
PlaneCoordinates
46 PlaneCoordinatesGeneral
46 PlaneCoordinatesPlottingPoints
55 PlaneCoordinatesPlottingPointswithtCharts
46 PlottingaPointonaPlane
59 PointSlopeFormofaLine
Polygons
87,88 PolygonsDefinitions
89 PolygonsExteriorAngles
89 PolygonsInteriorAngles
87 PolygonsNumberofDiagonalsinaPolygon
42 Powersof10
PrimeNumbers
10 PrimeNumberFactorTrees
11 PrimeNumberSomeFacts
9 PrimeNumbersDefinitions
9 PrimeNumbersFactorization

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 PreAlgebra Handbook
Index

Page Subject

Prisms
93 PrismsDefinitions
93 PrismsSurfaceAreaandVolume
Probability
61 ProbabilityandOdds
62 ProbabilitywithDice
PropertiesofAlgebra
21 PropertiesofAlgebraPropertiesofAdditionandMultiplication
21 PropertiesofAlgebraPropertiesofEquality
21 PropertiesofAlgebraPropertiesofZero
Pyramids
96 PyramidsDefinitions
96 PyramidsSurfaceAreaandVolume
72 PythagoreanTheorem
73 PythagoreanTriples
Quadrilaterals
78 QuadrilateralsCharacteristics
77 QuadrilateralsDefinitions
78 QuadrilateralsFigures
91 QuadrilateralsPerimeterandArea
63 Range
74 RatiosandProportions
71 RightTriangle
16 RomanNumerals
40 RootsofLargeNumbers
71 ScaleneTriangle
ScientificNotation
44 ScientificNotationAddingandSubtracting
43 ScientificNotationConversiontoandfromDecimals
43 ScientificNotationFormat
45 ScientificNotationMultiplyingandDividing
11 SieveofEratosthenes
Signs
23 SignsofAddedorSubtractedNumbers
23 SignsofMultipliedorDividedNumbers
75 SimilarTriangles
Slope
58 SlopeofaLine8Variations
56 SlopeofaLineMathematicalDefinition
57 SlopeofaLineRiseoverRun
59 SlopeInterceptFormofaLine

Version 2.4 Page 106 of 107 April 2, 2017

 PreAlgebra Handbook
Index

Page Subject

60 SlopesofParallelandPerpendicularLines
Sphere
98 SpheresDefinitions
98 SpheresSurfaceAreaandVolume
SquareRoot
39 SquareRootEstimation
40 SquareRootsofLargeNumbers
59 StandardFormofaLine
64 StemandLeafPlots
SurfaceArea
97 SurfaceAreaCones
94 SurfaceAreaCylinders
93 SurfaceAreaPrisms
96 SurfaceAreaPyramids
98 SurfaceAreaSpheres
95 SurfaceAreaUsingDecomposition
100 SurfaceAreaFormulasSummaryfor3DShapes
Transformation
86 TransformationComposition
81 TransformationDefinitions
81 TransformationIsometric
83 TransformationReflection
84 TransformationRotation
85 TransformationTranslation
80 Trapezoids
Triangles
71 TrianglesGeneral
90 TrianglesPerimeterandArea
76 TrianglesProportionTablesforSimilarTriangles
75 TrianglesSimilar
70 TrianglesWhatMakesaTriangle?
Volume
97 VolumeCones
94 VolumeCylinders
93 VolumePrisms
96 VolumePyramids
98 VolumeSpheres
100 VolumeFormulasSummaryfor3DShapes

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