Click Study Flashcards above to open the flashcard hub — 200 GRE Math cards you can flip, match, type, or quiz yourself on. Every card is drawn from the ETS GRE Mathematics Subject Test content areas, so you study exactly what the test measures.[1] Pair them with our free practice test and study guide.
GRE Math Flashcard Study Modes
Flip mode moves through cards at your own pace so you can check each definition before turning back. Match is a timed game that pairs terms with definitions. Type shows the definition and asks you to produce the term, so something like Chain rule has to come from memory. Quiz builds multiple choice questions from the same cards when recognition is all you have left.

Why Flashcards Work for the GRE Math Subject Test
Calculus is the heaviest block at 81 cards, and it spans differentiation rules, integral applications, and the tests that decide whether a series converges. Chain rule sits next to application material such as Related rates, where the card is less about a formula than about knowing when to set one up. The convergence cards, Ratio test among them, ask you to hold both the statement and the conditions under which it says nothing. Since this domain holds the most cards, give it the first complete pass and the most repeat rounds.
Additional Topics carries 64 cards and is the widest-ranging part of the deck, pulling probability, counting arguments, and point-set topology into one place. Bayes’ theorem anchors the probability side, and you should be able to state it rather than merely recognize it. Counting questions lean on techniques like Stars and bars, which is easy to name and easy to misapply. The topology cards, Metric space included, reward precise wording, since the definitions here are what later arguments are built on.
Algebra closes the deck with 55 cards drawn from group theory, ring theory, and linear algebra. Subgroup and Coset check whether you can give a clean structural definition instead of an example, which is the difference that shows up under time pressure. Eigenvalue brings in the linear algebra vocabulary that supports determinants, traces, dimension counts, and change of basis. Because these terms stack on one another, work through the group and ring cards before the linear algebra ones.
The GRE Mathematics Subject Test is fast and broad: it rewards instant recall of theorems, definitions, and formulas across about three years of an undergraduate major.[2] Spaced flashcards are the most efficient way to make that knowledge automatic. Used alongside our practice test and study guide, they turn review time into measurable progress.
GRE Math Flashcards by Content Area
The cards are organized by the GRE Mathematics Subject Test’s three content areas. Drill the biggest one first — Calculus is about half the exam — then work through Algebra and the Additional Topics:[1]
| Content area | What it covers |
|---|---|
| Calculus (~50%) | Limits, derivatives, integrals, series, multivariable calculus and the vector-calculus theorems |
| Algebra (~25%) | Linear algebra, abstract/group theory, rings and fields, and number theory |
| Additional Topics (~25%) | Real analysis, point-set topology, complex variables, probability, statistics, and discrete math |
How to Get the Most Out of These Flashcards
- Start with Calculus. At 81 cards it is the largest block in the deck, so clearing it first gives you the biggest gain before you touch anything else.
- Type-drill the near-twins. Root test and Ratio test read alike under time pressure, so typing the term from the definition forces a distinction that Quiz options can quietly hand you.
- Let Match handle definitions. The short set and topology cards in Additional Topics, Open set among them, pair quickly and reward exactly the fast recognition Match is built to train.
- Switch to the practice test. Once Algebra cards such as Subgroup and Eigenvalue come back without hesitation, move to full questions where those terms are buried inside the problem.
- Keep the cadence small. Work one domain per sitting across the 200 cards, retire what you already know in Flip, and close each session with a short Quiz round.
GRE Math Flashcards FAQ
Two hundred free GRE Mathematics Subject Test flashcards, organized across all three content areas — Calculus (single- and multivariable, sequences and series), Algebra (linear algebra, abstract/group theory, and number theory), and Additional Topics (real analysis, topology, complex variables, probability, statistics, and discrete math). They're free with no account required.
Yes. Flashcards use active recall — retrieving an answer from memory — which research shows is one of the most effective study methods, especially in short, spaced sessions. Because the Subject Test rewards instant recall of theorems, definitions, and formulas across a wide curriculum, the cards are an efficient way to make that knowledge automatic.
All three content areas: Calculus (limits, derivatives, integrals, series, multivariable theorems), Algebra (matrices, eigenvalues, groups, rings, fields, and number theory), and Additional Topics (analysis, point-set topology, complex variables, and probability and statistics). The deck mirrors the way ETS organizes the test, so you study exactly what is measured.
Lead with Calculus — it is about half the exam — then drill Algebra and the Additional Topics. Mix the modes: flip to learn, type to test recall, match for speed, and quiz to check yourself before working full practice questions. Because the test is fast and rights-only, automatic recall of formulas and theorems is the goal.
Yes — 100% free, all four study modes, no paywall.
Yes. The cards are organized to the ETS content areas for the current GRE Mathematics Subject Test — about 66 questions in 170 minutes on a 200–990 scaled score — with roughly half the deck devoted to calculus, matching the exam's emphasis.
GRE Math flashcard bank
All 200 cards, by topic
A reference copy of every card in this deck. Each answer stays hidden until you choose to show it. To study with Flip, Match, Type and Quiz modes and track what you have mastered, use Study Flashcards at the top of the page.
Calculus (81)
- Power rule (derivative)
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for any real exponent .
- Product rule
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- Quotient rule
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- Chain rule
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If then .
- Derivative of eˣ
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; and .
- Derivative of ln x
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; and .
- Derivative of sin x
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- Derivative of cos x
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- Derivative of tan x
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- Derivative of arctan x
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- Derivative of arcsin x
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- Implicit differentiation
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Differentiate both sides with respect to , treating as a function of (so terms pick up a ), then solve for .
- Limit definition of the derivative
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- L'Hôpital's rule
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For or : , provided the right limit exists.
- Squeeze theorem
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If near and , then .
- Standard limit: sin x over x
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- Standard limit: (eˣ − 1)/x
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- Limit form of e
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- Continuity at a point
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is continuous at if (the limit exists and equals the function value).
- Differentiable implies continuous
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If is differentiable at it is continuous at . The converse fails — e.g. at .
- Critical point
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A point where or is undefined; candidate for a local max, min, or inflection.
- First-derivative test
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At a critical point, changing gives a local max; gives a local min.
- Second-derivative test
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At : means local min; means local max; is inconclusive.
- Concavity & inflection point
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is concave up, concave down; an inflection point is where concavity changes (often ).
- Mean Value Theorem
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If is continuous on and differentiable on , some gives .
- Rolle's theorem
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If is continuous on , differentiable on , and , then for some in .
- Extreme Value Theorem
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A continuous function on a closed bounded interval attains an absolute maximum and minimum on that interval.
- Intermediate Value Theorem
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If is continuous on and lies between and , then for some in .
- Related rates
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Differentiate a relation between quantities with respect to time , then substitute known rates to solve for the unknown rate.
- Linear approximation
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Near : — the tangent line approximates the function.
- Fundamental Theorem of Calculus, Part 1
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If then .
- Fundamental Theorem of Calculus, Part 2
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, where is any antiderivative of .
- Power rule for integrals
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for ; for , .
- u-substitution
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Let , : — the chain rule in reverse.
- Integration by parts
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. Choose by LIATE (log, inverse trig, algebraic, trig, exponential).
- Integral of eˣ
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- Integral of 1/(1+x²)
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- Integral of sin x and cos x
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; .
- Partial fractions
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Decompose a rational function into simpler fractions whose denominators are the factors of the original denominator, then integrate term by term.
- Area between two curves
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, where top bottom on .
- Volume by disks
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Revolving about the x-axis: .
- Volume by cylindrical shells
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About the y-axis: .
- Arc length
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- Average value of a function
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- Improper integral
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An integral with an infinite limit or an unbounded integrand; evaluate as a limit, e.g. (converges).
- Convergence of ∫ 1/xᵖ from 1 to ∞
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converges iff .
- Geometric series
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when ; diverges when .
- p-series test
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converges iff . The harmonic series () diverges.
- nth-term (divergence) test
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If , the series diverges. (If the limit is 0, the test is inconclusive.)
- Ratio test
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Let : converges, diverges, inconclusive. Best for factorials and exponentials.
- Root test
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Let : converges, diverges, inconclusive. Best when has an nth power.
- Integral test
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For positive, decreasing with : and both converge or both diverge.
- Comparison test
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If : converges converges; diverges diverges.
- Limit comparison test
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If with , then and converge or diverge together.
- Alternating series test
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converges if , is decreasing, and .
- Absolute vs conditional convergence
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Absolute: converges. Conditional: converges but diverges (e.g. the alternating harmonic series).
- Taylor series
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. With it is a Maclaurin series.
- Maclaurin series of eˣ
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(converges for all ).
- Maclaurin series of sin x
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- Maclaurin series of cos x
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- Geometric (Maclaurin) series of 1/(1−x)
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for .
- Radius of convergence
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The value such that a power series converges for ; often found by the ratio test.
- Partial derivative
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differentiates with respect to , treating the other variables as constants.
- Gradient vector
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; it points in the direction of steepest increase of .
- Directional derivative
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, where is a unit vector — the rate of change of in the direction .
- Lagrange multipliers
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To extremize subject to , solve together with the constraint.
- Second-partials (Hessian) test
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With : min; max; saddle; inconclusive.
- Double integral over a rectangle
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— an iterated integral (Fubini's theorem).
- Green's theorem
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- Stokes' theorem
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— relates a line integral to the curl over the bounded surface.
- Divergence theorem
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— flux through a closed surface equals the integral of the divergence.
- Line integral of a scalar field
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- Conservative vector field
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for some potential ; then line integrals are path-independent and .
- Separable differential equation
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: separate to and integrate both sides.
- First-order linear ODE
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: multiply by the integrating factor , so .
- Exponential growth/decay ODE
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has solution — growth if , decay if .
- Second-order linear homogeneous ODE
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: solve the characteristic equation ; roots give solutions.
- Curvature of a circle
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A circle of radius has constant curvature .
- Telescoping series
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A series whose partial sums collapse, e.g. .
- Pythagorean trig identity
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; dividing gives .
- Double-angle formulas
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; .
Algebra (55)
- Eigenvalue
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A scalar with for some nonzero ; found from .
- Eigenvector
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A nonzero vector whose direction is unchanged (up to scaling) by : .
- Characteristic polynomial
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; its roots are the eigenvalues of .
- Trace
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The sum of the diagonal entries of a square matrix; it equals the sum of the eigenvalues (with multiplicity).
- Determinant of a 2×2 matrix
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. It equals the product of the eigenvalues.
- Invertible matrix conditions
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An matrix is invertible iff iff rank iff its columns are linearly independent iff is not an eigenvalue.
- Rank of a matrix
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The dimension of the column space (= dimension of the row space) = number of pivots in row echelon form.
- Rank–nullity theorem
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For , .
- Kernel (null space)
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The set of vectors with ; its dimension is the nullity.
- Linear independence
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Vectors are linearly independent if the only solution to is all .
- Basis
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A linearly independent set that spans a vector space; every vector is a unique linear combination of basis vectors.
- Dimension
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The number of vectors in any basis of a vector space — an invariant of the space.
- Diagonalizable matrix
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for a diagonal ; possible iff has linearly independent eigenvectors (guaranteed if all eigenvalues are distinct).
- Vector space axioms
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A set closed under vector addition and scalar multiplication satisfying associativity, commutativity, a zero vector, additive inverses, and the distributive/identity laws over a field.
- Spectral theorem
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A real symmetric matrix is orthogonally diagonalizable: it has real eigenvalues and an orthonormal basis of eigenvectors.
- Orthogonal matrix
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A square matrix with (columns orthonormal); it preserves lengths and .
- Dot product
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; zero means the vectors are orthogonal.
- Cross product
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is orthogonal to both, with magnitude (the area of the parallelogram they span).
- Linear transformation
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A map with ; every such map (between finite-dim spaces) is given by a matrix.
- Image (range) of a linear map
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The set of all outputs ; its dimension is the rank, and it equals the column space of the matrix.
- Cramer's rule
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For with : , where replaces column with .
- Group (definition)
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A set with an associative operation, an identity element, and an inverse for each element. Abelian if the operation is also commutative.
- Abelian group
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A group whose operation is commutative: for all elements. Example: the integers under addition.
- Order of an element
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The smallest positive with (the identity); it divides the order of the group.
- Order of a group
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The number of elements in the group. By Lagrange's theorem, every subgroup's order divides it.
- Lagrange's theorem
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In a finite group , the order of any subgroup divides ; the quotient is the index .
- Cyclic group
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A group generated by a single element: . Every group of prime order is cyclic.
- Subgroup
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A subset that is itself a group under the same operation — closed, contains the identity, and contains inverses.
- Normal subgroup
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when (i.e. ) for all ; exactly the condition to form the quotient .
- Quotient group
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: the group of cosets of a normal subgroup , with . Its order is .
- Coset
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For a subgroup , a left coset is . Cosets partition the group into equal-size blocks.
- Group homomorphism
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A map with . An isomorphism is a bijective homomorphism.
- Kernel of a homomorphism
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— always a normal subgroup of ; is injective iff the kernel is trivial.
- First isomorphism theorem
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For , .
- Symmetric group Sₙ
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The group of all permutations of elements; it has elements and is non-abelian for .
- Cyclic group Z mod n
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: integers under addition mod ; the order of element is .
- Ring (definition)
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A set with addition (an abelian group) and an associative multiplication that distributes over addition. With unity it has a multiplicative identity .
- Integral domain
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A commutative ring with unity and no zero divisors: or .
- Field
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A commutative ring with unity in which every nonzero element has a multiplicative inverse (e.g. ).
- Ideal
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A subgroup of a ring under addition that absorbs multiplication: for all in the ring.
- Quadratic formula
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For : .
- Discriminant
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: positive gives two real roots, zero one (repeated) root, negative two complex-conjugate roots.
- Vieta's formulas (quadratic)
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For : the roots sum to and multiply to .
- Rational Root Theorem
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Any rational root of an integer polynomial has constant term and leading coefficient.
- Factor theorem
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is a factor of iff (i.e. is a root).
- Logarithm rules
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; ; .
- Change of base formula
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.
- Exponent rules
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; ; ; .
- Euclidean algorithm
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Find by repeated division: until the remainder is 0.
- Fermat's little theorem
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If is prime and , then ; equivalently .
- Euler's theorem (number theory)
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If , then , where is Euler's totient.
- Euler's totient φ(n)
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The count of integers in coprime to . For a prime , .
- Chinese Remainder Theorem
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If the moduli are pairwise coprime, a system has a unique solution mod .
- Fundamental Theorem of Arithmetic
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Every integer factors uniquely into primes (up to order).
- Modular arithmetic
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means ; arithmetic is done with remainders mod .
Additional Topics (64)
- Newton's method
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— iterates toward a root of .
- Epsilon–delta definition of a limit
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means: for every there is with .
- Euler's formula
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; so .
- Heron's formula
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Triangle area , where is the semi-perimeter.
- Open set
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A set in which every point has a neighborhood (an open ball) contained entirely in the set.
- Closed set
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A set whose complement is open; equivalently, it contains all of its limit points.
- Closure of a set
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The smallest closed set containing ; equals together with its limit points.
- Compact set (Heine–Borel)
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In , a set is compact iff it is closed and bounded; in general, every open cover has a finite subcover.
- Connected space
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A space that cannot be split into two disjoint nonempty open sets; intervals in are connected.
- Continuous image of a compact set
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If is continuous and is compact, then is compact (closed and bounded).
- Continuous image of a connected set
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The continuous image of a connected set is connected — the basis for the Intermediate Value Theorem.
- Metric space
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A set with a distance satisfying (and iff equal), symmetry, and the triangle inequality .
- Cauchy sequence
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A sequence whose terms get arbitrarily close to each other; in a complete space (like ) every Cauchy sequence converges.
- Bolzano–Weierstrass theorem
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Every bounded sequence in has a convergent subsequence.
- Supremum (least upper bound)
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The smallest number every element of a set; the completeness of guarantees it exists for any bounded-above set.
- Uniform continuity
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One works for all points at once: for every there is with .
- Complex modulus
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For , — its distance from the origin in the complex plane.
- Complex conjugate
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; note .
- Polar form of a complex number
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, where and .
- De Moivre's theorem
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.
- nth roots of a complex number
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has roots , — equally spaced on a circle.
- Cauchy–Riemann equations
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is analytic where and .
- Analytic (holomorphic) function
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A complex function that is complex-differentiable on an open set; equivalently it satisfies the Cauchy–Riemann equations with continuous partials.
- Cauchy's integral theorem
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If is analytic on and inside a simple closed contour , then .
- Permutation P(n, k)
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Ordered arrangements: .
- Combination C(n, k)
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Unordered choices: . Also .
- Binomial theorem
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.
- Permutations with repeated items
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Arrangements of items with repeats : .
- Circular permutations
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Seating distinct objects around a circle (rotations the same): arrangements.
- Stars and bars
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Nonnegative integer solutions of : .
- Inclusion–exclusion
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; extends to more sets by alternating added and subtracted intersections.
- Pigeonhole principle
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If items go into boxes, at least one box holds items.
- Probability of an event
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for equally likely outcomes; always between 0 and 1.
- Addition rule of probability
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; for mutually exclusive events the intersection is 0.
- Independent events
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and are independent iff .
- Conditional probability
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, for .
- Bayes' theorem
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.
- Expected value
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(discrete) or (continuous) — the long-run average outcome.
- Variance
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; the standard deviation is .
- Linearity of expectation
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— true even when and are not independent.
- Binomial distribution
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; mean , variance .
- Poisson distribution
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; both mean and variance equal .
- Uniform distribution on [a, b]
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Density ; mean , variance .
- Normal distribution
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The bell curve ; about 68%, 95%, 99.7% of values fall within 1, 2, 3 standard deviations of the mean.
- Central Limit Theorem
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The sample mean of many independent identically distributed variables is approximately normal, regardless of the original distribution.
- Mean, median, mode
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Mean = average (sensitive to outliers); median = middle value (resistant); mode = most frequent value.
- Triangle inequality
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; in a metric space, .
- Cauchy–Schwarz inequality
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, with equality iff the vectors are parallel.
- Distance formula
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Between and : .
- Equation of a circle
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— center , radius .
- Slope of a line
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; parallel lines share , perpendicular slopes multiply to .
- Sum of interior angles of a polygon
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An -sided polygon has interior angles summing to .
- Volume of a sphere
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; surface area .
- Volume of a cylinder
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; a cone is one-third of that, .
- Arithmetic sequence
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Constant difference : ; sum .
- Geometric sequence
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Constant ratio : ; finite sum .
- Convergence of a sequence
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if for every there is with for all .
- Set: union, intersection, complement
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(in either), (in both), (not in ). De Morgan: .
- Cardinality / countability
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A set is countable if it bijects with a subset of . is countable; is uncountable.
- Graph theory: handshake lemma
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In any graph, the sum of all vertex degrees equals twice the number of edges.
- Mathematical induction
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Prove a base case, then assume and prove ; together these establish for all the base.
- Law of total probability
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For a partition : .
- Floor and ceiling functions
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is the greatest integer ; is the least integer .
- Numerical: trapezoidal rule
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Approximates by trapezoids: , with .
References
- 1.ETS. “GRE Subject Tests — Mathematics Test Content and Structure.” ETS. ↑
- 2.ETS. “GRE Mathematics Test Practice Book.” ETS. ↑
- 3.ETS. “About the GRE Subject Tests.” ETS. ↑

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