Question 1

What is 2/9?

Accepted Answer

2/9 is .22222… The 2s repeat forever.
Key Takeaway: The 9s are easy if you know the trick.
1/9 = .11111…
2/9 = .22222
3/9 = 1/3 = .333333
And so on.

Question 2

What is 3/8s?

Accepted Answer

3/8 is .375.
Key Takeaway: 1/8 is equal to .125.
0.125 is a pretty easy number to work with. Just multiply by your numerator. So 7/8 is .125 times 7, or .875. Dividing by 8 is pretty common, so we recommend you save yourself precious seconds by remembering this.

Question 3

If the speed of a car is 200 km per hour, how may minutes does it take to travel 60 km?

Accepted Answer

18 minutes. The quickest way to do this problem is to divde 60 by 200.
You can quickly reduce that to 3/10. Then multiply 3/10 by 60 to get 18 minutes.
Key Takeaway: Again, we can't emphasize the value of being really comfortable with the time units. 60 breaks down nicely with fractions as it is divisible by 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 10, 12, 15, 20 and 30.

Question 4

94% of Jim's income last year came from his salary. The rest came from awards his prize winning poodle won in dog shows. If he won $9,600 in dog shows, what was his total income?

Accepted Answer

$160,000.
In this case, 94% is a pretty lousy number to work with. 6% is much better.
If 6% equals $9,600, then 1% = $1,600. Thus, 100% is equal to $160,000.
Key Takeaway: This question is all about speed. By finding easy numbers to work with, you can do this question in a flash.

Question 5

What is the perimeter of a rectangle that has 2 sides measuring 4 cm and 2sides measuring 6 cm?

Accepted Answer

A rectangle that has 2sides measuring 4 cm and 2sides measuring 6 cm has a perimeter of 20. To get this answer, you add the sum of all sides: 4+4+6+6=20.

Question 6

The test scores for eight students are 97, 94, 98, 97, 89, 92, 68 and 96. What would the seventh score be considered?

Accepted Answer

A piece of data that is atypical or significantly different from the rest of its data set is called an outlier. While true outliers are often easy to spot with critical thinking skills alone, there is also a mathematical precept for assessing these anomalies. Generally, a number that is two or more standard deviations from the mean is considered an outlier. In some cases, outliers can skew data significantly, which is why identifying them is critical. Occasionally, an outlier can be removed justifiably from a data set to improve the data's reliability.

Question 7

What is the median for the numbers 89, 87, 94, 82, 89, 91, 95, 88, 90, 87, 92 and 93?

Accepted Answer

The median of the number set above is 89.5. The median is the number that falls in the middle of the set when the numbers are ordered by numeric value (least to greatest). The set above should be ordered as follows: 82, 87, 87, 88, 89, 89, 90, 91, 92, 93, 94, 95. When there is an even number of entrants in the set, the middle two numbers should be averaged together to find the median. This sequence has 12 numbers and the middle two are 89 and 90, which equal 89.5 when averaged.

Question 8

What is the median for the following set of numbers? 15, 62, 47, 33, 89, 4, 76, 40, 54

Accepted Answer

The median or the middle number when the numbers are in ascending order (4, 15, 33, 40, 47, 54, 62, 76, 89) for the number set above is 47. The mean is about 46.7. There is no mode because each number occurs only one time in the set.

Question 9

According to the US Standard system, which of the following would be used to measure the volume of water in a bath tub?

Accepted Answer

According to the US Standard system, gallons would be used to measure the volume of water in a bath tub. Other countries do not use gallons as a way of measurement. A US Standard liquid gallon is approximately 4.5 liters.

Question 10

An 8-year-old boy named Albert has a 10-year-old brother named Benny. Benny joins the service at 20 leaving Albert feeling bitter that he no longer has a brother to look up to. After 7 years, Albert is finally ready to make up with Benny who has been out of the service for 5 years. How old is Albert now?

Accepted Answer

25
There's a 2-year difference between the boys. Benny leaves to join the service at 20 and 7 years pass, making him 27. That means Albert is 25. Note that it's irrelevant that he's been out of the service for 5 years.
Key Takeaway: Not all of us love brain teasers. If this is you - don't panic! Carefully sift through what information you have, throw out the useless information and keep what you can use.

Question 11

In a jar of candy there are 127 red candies, 92 orange ones, 108 yellow ones, 77 green ones, and 13 blue candies. If a person reaches into the jar without looking and grabs one piece of candy, what is the probability of that piece being red?

Accepted Answer

A person reaching into the candy jar would have a 30% chance of pulling out a piece of red candy. There are 417 pieces of candy in the jar altogether, which means the person has 127 chances in 417 to pull out a piece of red candy (or 127/417 if the candy is red). To convert that to a percentage, divide the number of chances to get a red candy (127) by the total number of pieces (417), then multiply the quotient by 100.

Question 12

All data can be divided into four equal sections that are called:

Accepted Answer

Each of the four sections into which data can be divided is called a quartile. Quartiles are commonly used when analyzing data in which time is a significant variable or influence, such as the crime rate in an urban center over the course of a year. A lot of financial data is customarily divided into quartiles.

Question 13

What is the mean for the following test scores? 92%, 87%, 75%, 88%, 96%, 95%, 94%, 82%, 88%

Accepted Answer

The mean for the data set above is 85.56% The mode is 88% and the median or middle number when the numbers are in ascending order (75%, 82%, 87%, 88%, 88%, 92%, 94%, 95%, 96%) is 88%.

Question 14

What is the mean for the following distances? 206 miles, 410 miles, 97 miles, 125 miles, 999 miles, 234 miles

Accepted Answer

The mean for the data set above is 345.17 miles. The median or middle number when the numbers are in ascending order (97 miles, 125 miles, 206 miles, 234 miles, 410 miles, 999 miles) is 220 miles. There is no mode because each number is unique to the set.

Question 15

If Martin invests $20,000 for 20 years and his investment earns 20% interest compounding quarterly, what will it be worth at the end of his investment period?

Accepted Answer

A $20,000 investment that earns 20% interest compounded quarterly would be worth $991,228.82 at the end of a 20-year investment period. The equation for compound interest is A = P(1 + r/n)nt in which A is the amount including interest, P is the principle investment, r is the interest rate expressed in decimal form (0.12), n is the number of times interest is added per year, and t is the number of years for which the principal is invested. A = $20,000(1+.2/4)80. = $991,228.82.

Question 16

The wholesale price of a fountain pen is $2.80. What will the new price be if a 5% increase is instituted?

Accepted Answer

$2.94. To find 5% of a number, first find 10%, then halve it. In this case, 10% of $2.80 is $0.28. Half of that is $0.14. Add the 14 cents to $2.80 to get $2.94.
Key Takeaway: Logical reasoning is critical with percent problems. Knowing how to manipulate numbers in relation to "friendly" numbers is important. For example, to find 5%, halve 10%. To find 20%, double 10%.

Question 17

A company just distributed candy bars wrapped with golden tickets hidden within ordinary shipments of their product. The company spokesperson announces that there is a "one in one thousand chance" of someone finding a golden ticket when they open a candy bar, and that 500,000 candy bars have been distributed in the golden ticket promotion. If a person buys three of the candy bars, what is their chance of finding a golden ticket?

Accepted Answer

A person with three eligible candy bars has a 0.3% chance of receiving one of the golden tickets. There is one golden ticket in every 1000 candy bars and there are 500,000 candy bars that could possibly have the prize. That means there are 500 golden tickets waiting to be found, and each candy bar has a 0.1% chance of having a ticket (500/500,000). If the person has three candy bars, that triples their 0.1% chance of finding a golden ticket.

Question 18

Olivia has $5,000 to invest. She invests in a fund at 4% interest. How long will it take for her money to double?

Accepted Answer

To calculate this answer mentally, use the Rule of 72. To determine how long it takes for something that grows to double (in this case, an investment; other examples - GDP, population), divide 72 by the rate of growth. In this example, Olivia's money would double in 18 years (72/4).
Key Takeaway: The rule of 72 is a quick mental calculation tool that provides an estimate of how long it would take an investment to grow. To determine how long it would take for an investment to triple in value, divide 114 by the interest rate (or expected rate of return).
To determine how long it would take for an investment to quadruple in value, divide 144 by the interest rate. Remember, these are not absolute, they are estimates. However, they provide a general guideline for planning purposes.

Question 19

Round 567.342 to the nearest hundredth. What is the answer?

Accepted Answer

567.342 rounded to the nearest hundredth is 567.34. The 4 is in the hundredths place. Since it is followed by the number 2, which is less than 5, you would round down and keep the 4.

Question 20

Jacqueline and Lee are meeting for the weekend somewhere between their cities, which are 420 miles apart. Jacqueline drives 80 mph for the duration of her trip. If they both left home at 10 a.m. and met at 1 p.m., what speed did Lee drive to reach their meeting spot?

Accepted Answer

Lee drove 180 miles at 60 mph to reach the meeting place where Jacqueline arrived after driving 240 miles at 80 mph. Jacqueline drove 80 mph for three hours, which is 240 miles altogether. If she drove 240 miles, then Lee drove what remained of their 420-mile distance, which is 180 miles. She had three hours to complete that distance which means she traveled 60 miles each hour.

Quiz 1: GED: Mathematics