Archive for the ‘Pure Mathematics’ Category

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A nice coordinate geometry problem (suitable for Form 7 pure)

十月 28, 2009

Let A(a, a^3 + pa + q) be a point on the curve C:  y = x^3 + px + q. Read the rest of this entry ?

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For my IMO Students (Basic and Advanced)

十月 28, 2009

Here is good problem for my IMO students.

Given a real number R > 0. Find the greatest area of triangle ABC with circum-radius R.

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For my Form 7 Pure students: A proof of the Rational Root Theorem

十月 19, 2009

Let f(x) = a_nx^n + a_{n-1}x^{n-1} + \dots + a_1x + a_0 \in \mathbb{Z}[x]. Suppose p/q, where \gcd(p, q) = 1 is a rational root.

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To my Form 7 students: I am impressed!

十月 15, 2009

Just finished my CB class tonight and I am impressed by two students. They both expressed interests in the following problem:

Suppose p(x) is a polynomial of degree n. Suppose further that

(i) p(x) - p(x - 1) = x^{100} for all x, and

(ii) p(1) = 1.

Find the leading coefficient of p(x) and the degree of p(x).

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Selected solutions for my F7 Pure (Polynomials)

十月 3, 2009

Book 2, pg 14. (00IQ12)(c)
(i) Let y = x^2, then we have ay^2 – by + a.
Considering the discriminant yields: b^2 – 4a^2 > 0. Therefore, it has two distinct roots: \alpha, \beta. If they are both positive, then we are done. Otherwise, they must be both negative since \alpha \beta = a/a = 1. (Note a \not = 0 since ab > 0.)
Suppose \alpha, \beta < 0. Then we have x = \pm i \sqrt{|\alpha|}, \pm i \sqrt{|\beta|}.

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Challenging problem in Linear Algebra

八月 19, 2009

Let \mathcal{M} = \left\{ \begin{pmatrix} a & -b \\b & a \end{pmatrix} \, | \, a, b, \in \mathbb{R} \right\}.

Solve the following matrix equation X^4 + X^2 + I = 0 where X \in \mathcal{M}.

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Mental exercises for my Pure Complex Class (1)

八月 19, 2009

Dear Students,

Please avoid as much calculations as possible. In ideal situation, you should not do any calculation at all.

Problem 1
Let z = 3 + 4i be a complex number.
(a) Find Re(z).
(b) Find Im(z).
(c) Find \overline{z}.
(d) Find |z|^2.
(e) Find Re(1/z).
(f) What is z \overline{z}?
(g) Suppose z = re^{i \theta}, write r in terms of z

Problem 2
(a) Write z = i in the form re^{i \theta}.
(b) Find the two square roots of i and represent the two square roots on the Gaussian Plane.

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Selected Solutions to My Pure Complex Class (1)

八月 19, 2009

Lesson 1:
Page 26
\begin{aligned} \sum_{k = 1}^{n} \cos^2(k \theta) &= \sum_{k = 1}^{n} \frac{ 1 + \cos(2 k \theta) }{2} \\ &= \frac{n}{2} + \frac{1}{2}\sum_{k = 1}^{n} \cos(2 k \theta) \\ &= \frac{n}{2}  + \frac{\sin(n \theta) \cos((n + 1) \theta)}{2\sin(\theta)}, \end{aligned} where the last line follows from part a(ii).

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Concept Check for my Linear Algebra Students

八月 6, 2009

Let (E) be the following system:

a_{11}x + a_{12}y + a_{13}z = b_1\\a_{21}x + a_{22}y + a_{23}z = b_2 \\a_{31}x + a_{32}y + a_{33}z = b_3

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Solution to “Possible HKAL Pure Problems”

四月 1, 2009

1(a) Expanding along the last row, we have:

f(x) = 1  \det{\begin{pmatrix}x &  x^3\\y &  y^3 \end{pmatrix}} - z \det{\begin{pmatrix} 1 & x^3 \\1 & y^3 \end{pmatrix}} + z^3 \det{\begin{pmatrix} 1 &  x \\1 &  y \end{pmatrix}}.

Therefore, f(z) is a cubic in z with leading coefficient \det \begin{pmatrix} 1 & x \\1 & y \end{pmatrix} = y - x. Read the rest of this entry ?