Today’s SAT question of the day is a math question about some basic algebra. The answer choices are those fun roman numeral options. The question:

If , the value of can be which of the following?

.

.

.

We can solve this either by doing a little algebra or by thinking it through (and testing out the answer choices).  I will show you both ways. To do a little algebra, let’s first multiply both sides by 3.

x = 3x^2

Then we can divide each side by x as long as we remember that we did so – this leaves us 0 as a solution to our equation.

1 = 3x

1/3 = x

Through algebra, we see that x can be 0 or 1/3.  Now let’s try plugging in each of the answer choices to solve this problem a different way.

Testing I. :

(-1/3)/3 = (-1/3)^2

-1/9 = 1/9 <— that’s not true! so I doesn’t work.

Testing II:

0/3 = 0^2 <— that’s true.  0 = 0 all day long.

Testing III:

(1/3)/3 = (1/3)^2

1/9 = 1/9 <— that’s true.

So, either way that we approach this question we see that II and III (0 and 1/3) are the correct answer choices.  You can approach roman numeral questions either way – using algebra/geometry/arithmetic skills, or testing out the answer choices.  Try each way as you practice for test day and see what works the best for you for different types of problems!