Math Tidbits

Greatest Common Divisor
The greatest common divisor (GCD) of two natural numbers is the largest natural number that evenly divides each.

`GCD \Large(` `,` `\Large)`
Pythagorean Theorem
The square of a right triangle's hypotenuse is equal to the sum of the squares of its legs.

`^2+` `^2`
Radical Simplification
A radical symbol `(\sqrt x)` denotes the opposite of exponentiation. If `x^n=y`, then we may equivalently write `\sqrt[n]y=x`.
Additionally, an expression like `\sqrt{4x}` may be simplified to `2\sqrt x` because the square root can be distributed to the factors of `4` and `x`, individually.



`\Large\sqrt x`
Quadratic Formula
A quadratic equation is a polynomial of degree `2`.
The zeros of such a polynomial are given by the expression `-b\pm\sqrt{b^2-4ac}\over 2a`.

`x^2+` `x+`

Finite Geometric Summation
A geometric series is one that has a common ratio which remains constant between terms.
The sum of a finite geometric series is `a_1(1-r^n)\over(1-r)`, where `a_1` is the first term, `n` is the number of terms, and `r` is the common ratio. If `r<1` and `n\to\infty`, then `r^n` approaches `0` and the formula approaches `a_1`, thereby creating the infinite sum equation seen previously.

`\sum_{n=1}` `*\Large(` `{\Large)}^{n-1}`
Infinite Geometric Summation
When a geometric series has a common ratio with an absolute value of less than one, it is said to "converge".
The value to which it converges can be calculated using the formula `a_1\over(1-r)`, where `a_1` is the first term and `r` is the common ratio.

`\sum_{n=1}^\infty` `*\Large(` `{\Large)}^{n-1}`