While many people talk about SAT tips and tricks, you also have to know a fair number of math rules, terms, formulas, and logic in order to get a top score. When you’re preparing for the SAT, you should focus on learning the rules and terms in conjunction with (or before) worrying about any tricks. You’ll get more points knowing the information tested than you will trying to rely on “tricks.”
Today’s review is Rules of Zero. Before we get to the rules let’s check out a sample problem:
This problem was the College Board QOTD on 1/28, after reading this post click on the image to give it a try.
Many people forget the rules of zero (for the question above only 52% of those who tried it got it right) because the rules that the SAT loves to test are the more obscure and easily forgotten ones. Those rules are the ones that your school teachers probably didn’t give you a whole lot of practice with when you first learned them in 5th – 8th grades. The good news is those rules are fairly easy to work with once you remember them.
Here is a quick and easy rules review that will help you in your quest for a perfect math SAT score.
- Anything divided by 0 is undefined
- Zero divided by any number is 0
- Anything times 0 is 0
- Zero is an even integer
- Zero is neither positive nor negative
- Zero is a digit
If you remember these rules, tackling zero questions and tackling the problem above should be quick and easy. Good luck and good studying!