{"id":7771,"date":"2016-09-06T13:34:19","date_gmt":"2016-09-06T20:34:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/sat\/?p=7771"},"modified":"2016-09-06T13:34:39","modified_gmt":"2016-09-06T20:34:39","slug":"mental-math-shortcut-n2-1-sat-video-post","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/sat\/mental-math-shortcut-n2-1-sat-video-post\/","title":{"rendered":"Mental Math Shortcut:  Perfect Squares \u2013 1 | SAT Video Post"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/9HUlsCTjbks\">https:\/\/youtu.be\/9HUlsCTjbks<\/a><\/p>\n<h2>A Handy SAT Math Shortcut \u2013 N<sup>2<\/sup> \u2013 1<\/h2>\n<p>Many of us have a pretty good sense of what the squares of the first 15 integers are. Sure, you might be a bit shaky on \u201813\u2019 and \u201814\u2019 but you should be comfortable with the rest. Just to be sure, I\u2019ll reproduce those below:<\/p>\n<p>1^2 = 1<br \/>\n2^2 = 4<br \/>\n3^2 = 9<br \/>\n4^2 = 16<br \/>\n5^2 = 25<br \/>\n6^2 = 36<br \/>\n7^2 = 49<br \/>\n8^2 = 64<br \/>\n9^2 = 81<br \/>\n10^2 = 100<\/p>\n<p>11^2 = 121<br \/>\n12^2 = 144<br \/>\n13^2 = 169<br \/>\n14^2 = 196<br \/>\n15^2 = 225<\/p>\n<p>Here are more squares students tend to know:<br \/>\n16^2 = 256<br \/>\n20^2 = 400<br \/>\n25^2 = 625<br \/>\n30^2 = 900<\/p>\n<p>(If you know all these, that\u2019s pretty solid! You don\u2019t have to memorize anymore.)<\/p>\n<p><strong>Why did I even bring this up in the first place? Well, I have a cool mental math shortcut.<\/strong> Assuming you know the above, you also know the following:<\/p>\n<p>11 x 13, 14 x 16, 15&#215;17 and even the crazy 29&#215;31.<\/p>\n<p>How is that possible?<\/p>\n<p>Well, what if I told you that n^2 \u2013 1 = (n \u2013 1)(n + 1)<\/p>\n<p>Big deal, you say. You already know basic algebra? And what does this have to do with squares?<\/p>\n<p>Well, let\u2019s say n = 20.<\/p>\n<p>See, by knowing that 20^2 = 400, then the product of one integer less than 20\u2014the number 19\u2014and one integer greater than 20\u2014the number 21\u2014will be 400-1, which equals 399.<\/p>\n<p>Try it with any of the numbers above. For instance, we know that 12^2 = 144. Therefore, 11 x 13 = 143.<\/p>\n<p>29 x 31?<\/p>\n<p>Well, what\u2019s 30^2 \u2013 1.<\/p>\n<p>Just like that, voila! You\u2019ve doubled your knowledge of squares above.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A Handy SAT Math Shortcut \u2013 N2 \u2013 1 Many of us have a pretty good sense of what the squares of the first 15 integers are. Sure, you might be a bit shaky on \u201813\u2019 and \u201814\u2019 but you should be comfortable with the rest. Just to be sure, I\u2019ll reproduce those below: 1^2 [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[91],"tags":[],"ppma_author":[24882],"class_list":["post-7771","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-all"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v21.7 (Yoast SEO v21.7) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Mental Math Shortcut: Perfect Squares \u2013 1 | SAT Video Post - Magoosh Blog | SAT<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Check out our SAT math video to learn how to find the product of larger numbers in your head simply by knowing the mental math shortcut to perfect squares.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/sat\/mental-math-shortcut-n2-1-sat-video-post\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Mental Math Shortcut: Perfect Squares \u2013 1 | SAT Video Post\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Check out our SAT math video to learn how to find the product of larger numbers in your head simply by knowing the mental math shortcut to perfect squares.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/sat\/mental-math-shortcut-n2-1-sat-video-post\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Magoosh Blog | SAT\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/MagooshSat\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ChrisLeleMagoosh1\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-09-06T20:34:19+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2016-09-06T20:34:39+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Chris Lele\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@chrismagoosh\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@MagooshSAT_ACT\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Chris Lele\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/sat\/mental-math-shortcut-n2-1-sat-video-post\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/sat\/mental-math-shortcut-n2-1-sat-video-post\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Chris Lele\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/sat\/#\/schema\/person\/3b6630b4f786513b81a860849cffd546\"},\"headline\":\"Mental Math Shortcut: Perfect Squares \u2013 1 | SAT Video Post\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-09-06T20:34:19+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/sat\/mental-math-shortcut-n2-1-sat-video-post\/\"},\"wordCount\":218,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/sat\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"SAT\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/sat\/mental-math-shortcut-n2-1-sat-video-post\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/sat\/mental-math-shortcut-n2-1-sat-video-post\/\",\"name\":\"Mental Math Shortcut: Perfect Squares \u2013 1 | SAT Video Post - 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He's been quoted as a subject expert in many publications, including US News, GMAC, and Business Because.","sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ChrisLeleMagoosh1\/","ttps:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/chris-lele-095005a0","https:\/\/twitter.com\/chrismagoosh","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UCZ4sGYJ6l0cgnVNIHY8GY6w"],"knowsAbout":["GRE","GMAT","SAT","ACT","MCAT (CARS)","LSAT"],"jobTitle":"Principal Curriculum Manager","worksFor":"Magoosh","url":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/sat\/author\/chris\/"}]}},"authors":[{"term_id":24882,"user_id":10,"is_guest":0,"slug":"chris","display_name":"Chris Lele","avatar_url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/39381a6b4ab74cd4c87c7e678683c33c3b18f1e14f6f0ac762a946185968952b?s=96&d=mm&r=g","user_url":"","last_name":"Lele","first_name":"Chris","description":"Chris Lele is the Principal Curriculum Manager (and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Vocabulary-Builder-Workbook-Activities-Must-Know\/dp\/193975481X\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">vocabulary wizard<\/a>) at Magoosh. Chris graduated from UCLA with a BA in Psychology and has 20 years of experience in the test prep industry. He's been quoted as a subject expert in many publications, including<a href=\"https:\/\/www.usnews.com\/education\/best-colleges\/slideshows\/10-test-prep-tips-for-sat-and-act-takers\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> US News<\/a>,<a href=\"https:\/\/www.mba.com\/exams-and-exam-prep\/gmat-exam\/why-take-the-gmat-in-2021-when-many-schools-are-test-optional\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> GMAC<\/a>, and<a href=\"https:\/\/www.businessbecause.com\/news\/gmat\/3263\/mba-admissions-gre-challenges-gmat\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> Business Because<\/a>.\r\n\r\n\r\nIn his time at Magoosh, Chris has taught countless students how to tackle the<a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/GRE-Prep-Magoosh\/dp\/1939418917\/\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> GRE<\/a>, GMAT, SAT, ACT, MCAT (CARS), and LSAT exams with confidence. Some of his students have even gone on to get near-perfect scores. You can find Chris on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UCZ4sGYJ6l0cgnVNIHY8GY6w\">YouTube<\/a>,<a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/chris-lele-095005a0\"> LinkedIn<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/chrismagoosh\">Twitter<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ChrisLeleMagoosh1\/\">Facebook<\/a>!"}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/sat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7771","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/sat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/sat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/sat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/sat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7771"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/sat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7771\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/sat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7771"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/sat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7771"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/sat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7771"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/sat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ppma_author?post=7771"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}