ShmoopTube

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Geometric Word Problems, a la Shmoop. "A picture is worth a thousand words."

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Well, that's what they say, right? So why doesn’t math use picture problems

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like we want them to? Well you're in luck! Out of all subjects,

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geometry has the most picture problems…

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…well…out of all math subjects, anyway. It’s because geometry is all about the shapes.

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Most of geometry is about things you can see with your own two eyes.

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To solve geometry word problems, just follow these basic rules.

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First, look at the picture you're given.

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If you don't have one, use your Van Gogh art skills and draw one.

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It really doesn't matter which art skills you use as long as you don’t take after

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Picasso.

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He’ll mess you up big time. Now that you have your picture, make sure

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you understand it.

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Hopefully it's easier to understand this picture… …than it is to understand all these words.

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You should also make sure you know what the question is asking you.

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Finding area and finding perimeter are two different things…

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…and in order to get the right answer, you need to know what you want to find.

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Then you need to come up with a way to get to the answer.

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In this case though, the GPS app on your smartphone probably won't cut it.

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Many times, you'll need to use certain formulas for, say, area…

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It's okay to not memorize formulas as long as you understand them…

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… but brownie points if you do know them by heart.

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In any case, find the formulas applicable to your problem and use them to find your

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answer. You may want to check your work and make sure

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your units are right, too. It'd be upsetting to do all that work just

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to find that your answer doesn't make any sense.

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After you're sure it's correct, relax and take a break.

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You've earned it. And then, once you've had your fill of sunbathing

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and Shirley Temples…

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…repeat everything for the next problem. Pretty soon, you won't need a thousand words

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to make a word problem in geometry look picture-perfect.

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It just takes a bit of practice.

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Blurb:

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We’ve got a problem. Actually, we’ve got a ton of them. Fortunately, they’re only

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Geometric Word Problems, which really aren’t so bad. We’re in much better shape than

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when we had that rat infestation problem last week. No snappy math formula was going to

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make that situation better.

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