A GMAT Geometry Question with NO CALCULATION?!?

How can you solve a GMAT Geometry question with no calculation?

Simple: find one that’s based on spatial awareness. It’s just drawing loads and loads of pictures and you’ll get your answer!

In this particular Geometry question, we see that you couldn’t really calculate even if you wanted to. Instead, this question requires two things:

You need to understand the definition of “intersection,” which essentially means that the two objects simply touch (in a more technical sense, they share the same point in coordinate space).
You need to think in spatial terms. How can these pieces be fit together?

The first one is easy enough: we have the definition. So any two things that touch, even at only one tiny point (tangential) actually intersect.

That means we can count the situations where the triangle and circle only touch at the one point.

Now for the second, we’ll have to look at a few different variations. Note that I’ve done it fairly quickly here, basically just dragging the circle leftward through the triangle and looking at various scenarios.

Sure–it might not come so easily for you (of course I’ve found the quick way before making the video!)–but it’s worth playing around with the different arrangements and you will ultimately see how the pieces fit together.