If you have been studying for the GRE for any period of time, you likely have come across the term “smart numbers,” one of many GRE math strategies we’ll discuss in this article. Smart numbers are real numbers that you choose that make doing necessary calculations as simple as possible in a given problem.

For example, let’s say you need to determine what percent the final price of an item was of the original price, if the original price was first increased by 20 percent, and then decreased by 40 percent. To easily get through this question, we use the “smart number” of 100 for the original price, and then we calculate as follows:

The increase of 20 percent yields: 100 x 1.2 = 120

The decrease of 40 percent yields: 120 x 0.6 = 72

Thus, the new price is 72/100 x 100 = 72 percent of the original.

We see that by using a “smart number” of 100, we easily came up with the correct answer of 72 percent.

Warmest regards,

Scott Woodbury-Stewart
Founder & CEO, Target Test Prep