Draw Your Own Figure
Question 4 with Solution

Last week, I went over a strategy for solving certain math problems on standardized tests by drawing a figure, and I gave you four problems to try on your own. You can see that post here: Math Strategy: Draw Your Own Figure

Today I would like to give a solution to the last of those four problems. You can see solutions for the first three problems here: Draw Your Own Figure: Q1   Q2   Q3.

Example: In rectangle PQRS, point T is the midpoint of side PQ. If the area of quadrilateral QRST is 0.8, what is the area of rectangle PQRS ?

Try to solve the problem yourself before checking the solution below.

Solution: Let’s begin by drawing a picture.

This picture alone really sheds some light on the situation. Lets now chop up our picture into 4 equal parts.

To get the area of one of those pieces simply divide 0.8 by 3. In our calculator we get

.266666666666667 or 4/15 if we change back to a fraction.

This is 1/4 of the area of the rectangle, so we simply multiply this result by 4 to get the answer 16/15.

More Problems with Explanations

If you are preparing for the SAT, ACT, or an SAT math subject test, you may want to take a look at the Get 800 collection of test prep books.

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