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The GRE Quantitative Reasoning Test: Geometry, List 2

Review these terms and concepts related to geometry that may be tested on the Quantitative Reasoning section of the GRE test.
20 words 122 learners

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Full list of words from this list:

  1. adjacent
    having a common boundary or edge
    The heat island effect is a phenomenon in which urban areas experience higher temperatures than the areas adjacent to them. Salon (Jul 31, 2022)
  2. arc
    a continuous portion of a circle
    This led him to discover that the pendulum always took the same time to complete one swing, whether it was swinging over a short arc or a long arc. The Scientists
  3. bisect
    cut in half or cut in two
    Along those lines, if you bisect a person’s photograph and view each half independently, people usually think he “looks like” the left half more than the right half. Scientific American (May 16, 2014)
  4. chord
    a straight line connecting two points on a curve
    Observers at different latitudes see the star pass behind a different chord through the asteroid, so the observations can be combined to measure the latter’s size and shape. Scientific American (Nov 30, 2022)
  5. cylinder
    a solid bounded by a round surface and two parallel planes
    To evenly heat the dough within, the oven is shaped like a cylinder with heaters lining every side; that way, the cookie is heated evenly all over. The Verge (Dec 26, 2019)
  6. ellipse
    a closed plane curve with an oval shape
    Instead of its predicted path being a closed ellipse, its orbit was open, indicating that it would never return. Scientific American (Sep 30, 2020)
  7. equilateral
    having all sides of the same length
    It is a variation of the basic principle that if you know one angle and one side of an equilateral or right-angled triangle, then you can determine the other angles and sides. The Invention of Science
  8. hexagon
    a six-sided polygon
    Water molecules have a particular bent shape that causes them to stack into clusters shaped like hexagons as they freeze. Salon (Sep 23, 2022)
  9. isosceles
    (of a triangle) having two sides of equal length
    The Lute of Pythagoras is based on the “golden” isosceles triangle, a triangle with two equal sides and an apex angle of 36 degrees. Scientific American (May 29, 2013)
  10. parallel
    being everywhere equidistant and not intersecting
    It is also possible to pave the plane with infinite straight lines: just place them all side by side and parallel. Scientific American (Apr 28, 2021)
  11. parallelogram
    a quadrilateral whose opposite sides are parallel and equal
    Think about it: a square or rectangle can easily be pressured into a parallelogram without changing the length of its sides. The Verge (Jun 4, 2016)
  12. perpendicular
    at right angles to the plane of the horizon or a base line
    Given that a smiley-face is 2D, presumably if it exploded such that its plane were perpendicular to the viewer, it would appear to look like a straight line. Salon (Jul 2, 2022)
  13. polygon
    a closed plane figure bounded by straight sides
    The Pythagoreans were fascinated by the regular solids, symmetrical three-dimensional objects all of whose sides are the same regular polygon. Cosmos
  14. prism
    a polyhedron with two congruent and parallel faces
    Geometric columns are seen in a variety of volcanic rocks across the Earth and are known to form as the rock cools and contracts, resulting in a regular array of polygonal prisms or columns. The Guardian (Apr 12, 2018)
  15. proof
    a formal series of statements showing that something is true
    The lack of interest was driven in part because John von Neumann, a highly regarded scientist, had in 1932 published a mathematical proof ruling out hidden-variable theories. Scientific American (Oct 6, 2022)
  16. pyramid
    a polyhedron having a polygonal base and triangular sides
    For 4,500 years, the pyramids of Giza have loomed over the western bank of the Nile River as a geometric mountain chain. New York Times (Aug 30, 2022)
  17. rhombus
    a parallelogram with four equal sides
    Often there will already be a cabinet offered as standard to fit into that uneven corner run, rhombus of a nook or sliver next to your stove. Washington Post (May 15, 2018)
  18. segment
    the part of a line between any two points
    Wherever that interior mesh mistakenly crosses over itself, the algorithm modifies that part of the contour, such as by untwisting it or adding finer line segments. Scientific American (Dec 1, 2022)
  19. trapezoid
    a quadrilateral with one pair of parallel sides
    So a circle gets squashed into an ellipse, a rectangle turns into a trapezoid. Scientific American (Jun 5, 2012)
  20. trigonometry
    the mathematics of three-sided figures and their functions
    And the next thing I knew I was in a trigonometry class and they’re talking about sines and cosines without any mention that it had something to do with triangles. Scientific American (Dec 1, 2011)
Created on Thu Dec 01 16:46:25 EST 2022 (updated Thu Jan 12 14:33:49 EST 2023)

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