Quantitative Section Made Easy: Arithmetic and Algebra Review
Here we cover material that will show up in the Quantitative Section of your GMAT, so if you want to do well on your GMAT and get into that MBA program, you better review this stuff. We start off with the basics - arithmetic and algebra.
» Tackling the Quantitative Section
Here are a few things you should think about before we begin.
First of all, make sure you go over the All About the GMAT lesson so that you know what to expect on the GMAT.
Here we'll go over just the Quantitative Section, starting with the Problem Solving and moving on to Data Sufficiency.
If you're taking the GMAT, you most likely haven't seen high-school level math in a long time. Don't let that scare you off, you won't be needing much of that anyway. The GMAT measures only basic skills in arithmetics, algebra and geometry - the stuff that's actually useful in real life. This series of lessons will help you review those basic concepts, but reviewing is not enough. You should practice solving math questions extensively if you want any chance of getting a good grade on the GMAT Quantitative Section.
Of course, we've got all the practice resources you need right here on LearnHub:
» A large selection of useful lessons
covering ever aspect of the Quantitative Section.
» A collection of skill testing quizzes.
» And thousands of questions in the Question
Bank await! But before we branch off…
» Numbers… what are they again?
Numbers include all numerical figures:
The numbers you're most highly familiar with are:
»» Real Numbers. The set of all rational and irrational numbers.
»» Rational Numbers. Any number
that can be expressed as .
»» Irrational Numbers. Any
non-repeating, nonterminating decimal (i.e. or
0.343443444 ).
»» Integers. Clean numbers with no fractions (i.e. -236, 0 or 4). Integers can be positive, meaning greater than 0, or negative. They can be even, divisible by 2, like 6 and 28, or odd. The can be prime or not.
»» Whole Numbers. (i.e. 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 ).
Numbers can be used with operations:
»» Addition. ()
»» Subtraction. ()
»» Multiplication. ()
»» Division. ()
Numbers can also be compared using equal
(),
less than, or greater than signs (
). Numbers can
be multiplied by themselves several times, resulting in
exponents, which represent the number of times a
number is multiplied by itself. A number can be a
factor of another number if that second number is
divisible by the first with a remainder of 0. There are also
absolute values, which represent the magnitude of a
number without it's positive or negative sign.
These are the basics. If you can't remember what they mean, please refer to my Basics of Algebra series, which covers these and many more algebraic concepts.
» What other things in there should I already know?
There are certain pieces of basic mathematical
knowledge involving arithmetic and algebra you already know, but
maybe forgot. These include:
» Order of Operations. I
learned it as BEMA - brackets,
exponents, multiplication/division, addition/subtraction. You can
memorize it using the sentence Boys Eat More Apples.
» Fractions. These are parts of
a whole-number, like 1/2 or 6/15. You have to know how to add
them (find a common denominator) and multiply them (straight on
multiplication of top and bottom, than reduce) without a
calculator.
» Decimals. What they represent (fractions over 10, 100, etc.) and how to work with them. You should also be able to convert between decimals and fractions.
» Percentages. These are
fractions over 100, and you should be able to work with them as
well.
» Ratios and proportions. A
ratio can be seen as a type of fraction, but you should be able
to use them in word problems, and remember that ratios represent
one part of the whole in relation to another, not to the whole.
(i.e. ratio is part:part, while fractions are
part/whole).
» Average. You should be able
to find the mean (add them all up and divide by total), mode
(most frequent) and median (middle value) given sets of numbers.
You should also understand standard deviation (how far off from
the mean you are).
» Exponents. And exponent laws, how to deal with fractional exponents or negative exponents, and what radical numbers are (roots).
» Interest. Specifically compound interest. This you should have learned somewhere in your business background.
This list contains simple topics you can review on your own. These are all the topics you can expect to see in terms of arithmetics on the GMAT. Not so scary, is it?
» What about that Algebra?
Algebra here is very basic as well. You should know the following things:
»» Solving Equalities: anything from:
To equations with 2-variables or simple, factorable quadratics. Inequalities are also fair game.
»» Those special Factoring Formulas, like:
»» Word Problems and transferring info into mathematical expressions and equations.
Luckily, all of these topics and more are covered in the Basics of Algebra series of lessons. You can review your stuff there, and maybe even learn a thing or two.
» So that's it?
Sorry, no. There is more to the math section than this simple stuff you learn in high-school. Next time we'll cover some basic probability and combinatorics, as well as geometry. Keep in mind though, the areas covered in this lesson appear on the GMAT more frequently than the next ones, so make sure you know these well before you move on.
» Additional GMAT Lessons
»» Quantitative: Probability and Geometry
»» Quantitative: Data Sufficiency
»»
Quantitative: More Strategies
All time most popular tags
Post Comments