A cylinder is a solid figure with straight parallel sides and a circular or oval cross section with a radius (r) and a height (h). The volume of a cylinder is π r²h and the surface area is 2(π r²) + 2π rh.

An equation is two expressions separated by an equal sign. The key to solving equations is to repeatedly do the same thing to both sides of the equation until the variable is isolated on one side of the equal sign and the answer on the other.

The Pythagorean theorem defines the relationship between the side lengths of a right triangle. The length of the hypotenuse squared (c²) is equal to the sum of the two perpendicular sides squared (a² + b²): c² = a² + b² or, solved for c, \(c = \sqrt{a + b}\)

When solving quadratic equations, if the equation is not set equal to zero, first manipulate the equation so that it is set equal to zero: ax² + bx + c = 0. Then, factor the quadratic and, because it's set to zero, you know that one of the factors must equal zero for the equation to equal zero. Finding the value that will make each factor, i.e. (x + ?), equal to zero will give you the possible value(s) of x.

A rectangle is a parallelogram containing four right angles. Opposite sides (a = c, b = d) are equal and the perimeter is the sum of the lengths of all sides (a + b + c + d) or, comonly, 2 x length x width. The area of a rectangle is length x width. A square is a rectangle with four equal length sides. The perimeter of a square is 4 x length of one side (4s) and the area is the length of one side squared (s²).