Exponents & Roots Practice Questions

NO CALCULATOR IS PERMITTED ON ANY OF THESE QUESTIONS.

4 3
1. Which of the following is equal to x 3 , for all 4. Which of the following is equivalent to 4 4 ?
values of x ?
(A) 3
1
(A)
3
x4 (B) 2 2

(C) 24 4
(B) 3
x4

3
(D) 43 4
4
(C) x

1
4
(D) x3
2

5. If n 3
 p , where n  0 , what is n in terms
of p ?
2
16x
2
2. If x  0 , which of the following is equivalent
(A)  p
3
to the given expression?
(B)  3 p 2
(A) 4 x
1
(B) 4x 2 (C)
p3
(C) 8 x
1
(D) 
(D) 32 x 3
p2

g
3. FREE RESPONSE: If q 3  81 for positive
integers q and g , what is one possible value n3
of g ? 6. FREE RESPONSE: If x 2.5  1 and x  0 ,
what is the value of n ?

320
 3 2 4
 nb
x y 2 3
9. If  n 24 and a  b  4 , what is the value
7. The expression 3 1
, where x  1 and n a4

x2 y 6
of a  b ?
y  1 , is equivalent to which of the following?
(A)  6

(A) y (B)  4

6
y5 (C) 4
(B)
x3 (D) 6

9 y
(C)
4
x9

4 xy
(D)
xy

2 3 5
 
(x 3 y 2 ) 6
10. The expression , where x  0 and
3 5
3 
x y 2 6

y  0 , is equivalent to which of the following?

9x 1
8. If 2 x  y  4 , what is the value of  y ? (A) 9
3 x y 22
6

(A) 34 1
(B) 13 5

(B) 3 8 x y 24 4

55
(C) 9 6
(C) (xy ) 12
(D) The value cannot be determined from the
information given. y 35
(D) 36
x2

321
 Exponential Growth & Decay Practice Questions
YOU MAY USE A CALCULATOR FOR ALL OF THE FOLLOWING PRACTICE PROBLEMS.

1. When a certain concert hall was opened, its

first performance had an audience of 10
Time (Years) Value (Dollars)
people. For each of the next 7 performances,
the audience at each performance doubled 0 8100
over the previous performance. If a ( p ) is a
2 2700
function for the audience size at each concert
p performances after opening the concert 4 900
hall, which of the following statements best
6 300
describes the function a ?
8 100
(A) The function a is a decreasing linear
function.

(B) The function a is an increasing linear 3. The value of an investment over time is shown
function. in the table above. Which of the following best
describes the relationship between time and
(C) The function a is a decreasing
the value of the investment?
exponential function
(A) Exponential Decay
(D) The function a is an increasing
exponential function. (B) Exponential Growth

(C) Increasing Linear

(D) Decreasing Linear

2. James is choosing a bank account into which
he will make an initial deposit of $350. Of the
following four types of bank account, which
choice would yield exponential growth of the
money in the account?

(A) At the end of each year, $35 is added to the

value of the account.

(B) At the end of each year, 3.5% of the original

deposit is added to the value of the
account.

(C) At the end of each year, 3.5% of the current

value is added to the value of the account.

(D) At the end of each year, 3.5% of the original

deposit and $35 is added to the value of the
account.

341
4. Dan modeled the growth of a colony of U  325(1.03) n
bacterial organisms he was studying in Biology
class. He estimated the colony began with 440 6. The equation above models the number of
bacterial organisms and had a 3% daily users, U , of a recording studio n years after
increase in the number of bacterial organisms the studio opens. Which of the following
every day thereafter. Which of the following equations models the number of users of the
functions models B (d ) , the number of recording studio q quarter years after the
bacterial organisms in the colony t days after studio opens?
the first day that Dan began tracking the
(A) U  325(1.0075) 4 q
growth of the colony?
q
(A) B ( d )  4401.03t (B) U  325(1.03) 4

(B) B ( d )  440t 1.03 (C) U  325(1.03) 4 q

(C) B ( d )  440(1.3) t (D) U  325(1.12) q

(D) B ( d )  440(1.03) t

5. FREE RESPONSE: Christian purchased a 7. A radioactive substance decays at an annual

guitar that had a value of $2000 at the time of rate of 35%. If the initial amount of the
purchase. Each year, the value of the guitar is substance is 1.3 kilograms, which of the
estimated to increase 20% over its value the following functions f models the remaining
previous year. The estimated value of the amount of the substance, in kilograms, t
guitar, in dollars, 2 years after purchase can be years later?
represented by the expression 2000b , where
b is a constant. What is the value of b ? (A) f (t )  1.3(.65) t

(B) f (t )  1.3(.35) t

(C) f (t )  .35(1.3) t

(D) f (t )  .65(1.3) t

342
 n 12 9. A student starts a business that resells
2,000(1  )
1,200 limited-edition shoes online. The student
begins with one pair of shoes in stock at the
8. The expression above gives the amount of start of Month 1. At the end of each month, the
money, in dollars, generated in a year by a student takes the profits and reinvests them to
$2,000 deposit in a savings account that pays buy twice as many shoes to sell in the
an annual interest rate of n% , compounded following month. For the next 12 months, the
monthly. Which of the following expressions student sells out their entire stock of shoes
shows how much additional money is before the end of the month. Which of the
generated in one year at an interest rate of 6% following expressions represents S , the
than an interest rate of 2%? number of individual shoes the student has in
stock at the start of month t ?
6  2 12
(A) 2,000(1  )
1,200
(A) S  1( 2) t 1
6
(B) S  2( 2) t 1
(B) 2,000(1  2 )12
1,200
(C) S  1( 2) t
6 12 2 12
(C) 2,000(1  )  2,000(1  ) (D) S  2( 2) t
1,200 1,200

6 12
2,000(1  )
1,200
(D)
2 12
2,000(1  )
1,200

10. An urban planner estimates that, starting

from the present day, the population of a
certain city will decrease by 5% every 15 years.
If the present population of the city is 80,000,
which of the following expressions represents
the urban planner’s estimate of the population
t years from now?

(A) 80,000(.05)15t

(B) 80,000(.95)15t

t
(C) 80,000(.95) 15

t
(D) 80,000(.05) 15

343
11. FREE RESPONSE: Ian made an investment of 13. (REFER TO QUESTION #12) To the nearest
d dollars on January 1st, 2015. The value of whole number, what is the predicted
his investment increased by 50% each year population of water bugs in the lake at the end
until Ian’s investment was worth $5,568.75 on of the six-month period?
January 1st, 2019. What is the value of d ?

Time Concentration
(Minutes) (mg/liter)

0 600

5 438

10 320
12. FREE RESPONSE: The population of water
bugs in a certain lake is 15,000 on January 1st, 15 233
2010. A scientist believes the population will
decrease by 14% per month for the next 6 20 170

months. The scientist uses the equation

14. FREE RESPONSE: The concentration in
P  15,000( x) t to model the population, P , milligrams per liter of a certain substance
of water bugs in the lake t months after dissolved in water can be modeled by
January 1st, 2010. What value should the t

scientist use for x ? C (t )  600(n) 5

as the solution evaporates,
where t is the number of minutes since the
substance was mixed into the water. The table
above shows a set of times and concentrations
for this solution. If C approximates the
values in the table above, what is the value of
n , rounded to the nearest tenth?

344
 Polynomial Long Division Practice Questions
DO NOT USE A CALCULATOR ON ANY OF THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS UNLESS INDICATED.

x2  7x  4 3. If x  2 , which of the following expressions

1. The expression is equivalent to
x3 x2  4x  4
is equivalent to ?
which of the following? x2

4 (A) x  2
(A) x  7 
x3
(B) x  4
3
(B) x  7  4
x3 (C) x  2 
x2
7
(C) x  4  4
x3 (D) x  2 x 
x2
8
(D) x  4 
x3

4. (CALCULATOR) The expression

2. Which of the following expressions is 7 x 2  9 x  12

is equivalent to which of the
x7
2x2  6
equivalent to ? following?
x2
37
2 (A) 7 x  7 
(A) 2 x  4  x7
x2
51
6 (B) 7 x  9 
(B) 2 x  4  x7
x2
268
12 (C) 7 x  40 
(C) 2 x  6  x7
x2
406
4 (D) 7 x  58 
(D) 2 x  6  x7
x2

48
5. Which of the following expressions is 7. (CALCULATOR) Which of the following
12 x 2  8 x  8 expressions is equivalent to
equivalent to ?
x2 9 x 3  18 x 2  6 x  12
?
x3
72
(A) 12 x  32 
x2 75
(A) 9 x 2  9 x  21 
x3
72
(B) 12 x  32 
x2 111
(B) 9 x 2  9 x  33 
x3
56
(C) 12 x  32 
x2 423
(C) 9 x 2  45 x  141 
x3
56
(D) 12 x  32 
x2 435
(D) 9 x 2  45 x  141 
x3

x3  x 2  x  1
6. The expression is equivalent to 8. (CALCULATOR) The expression
x 1
which of the following? 3x 4  2 x 3  9 x 2  4 x  8
is equivalent to
x3
2 which of the following?
(A) x 2  1 
x 1
8
4 (A) 3 x 3  2 x 2  9 x  4 
(B) x 2  1  x3
x 1
266
2 (B) 3 x 3  7 x 2  30 x  86 
(C) x 2  2 x  1  x3
x 1
56
4 (C) 3 x 3  7 x 2  12 x  16 
2
(D) x  2 x  3  x3
x 1
53
(D) 3 x 3  2 x 2  11x  15 
x3

49