BASIC MATHEMATICS.

R.L.JACOBS.

INTRODUCTION.
These notes summarise the basic Mathematics you should study before starting your degree course. The notes are designed to make you more familiar
with the core Mathematics covered at A-level, to improve your understanding and to show you where the gaps in your knowledge are. They are also
designed to introduce some new but simple topics. Please read the notes and
make sure you fill in the gaps but do not feel discouraged if there is material
you have not met. Treat the new material as a challenge and master it. The
notes are also intended to bring everyone in the class up to a common level
of Mathematical knowledge at the beginning of the course.
If you have met some or all of this material at A level do not feel insulted or
patronised and do not feel complacent. If you are doing a degree in a technical subject it is important to have this material at your fingertips so that
you can use it fluently and easily without having to refer to books or notes
or to rely on a calculator unnecessarily. If you have a fluent command of this
material it will help you enormously in the rest of your course where some of
the topics which come up later will be covered quickly and in less detail and
all of them will depend on the material in this basic course. Remember that
Mathematics works by accumulation so that you need to master each stage
before you can go on to the next one.
This introductory course will be assessed by a Mastery test which you will
be expected to pass before continuing with the rest of your Maths course. If
you do not pass the test you will have the opportunity to retake it several
times until you pass.
If you need extra help please ask the lecturer or the tutors in the classes
who are there to help you.

NUMBERS AND ARITHMETIC.

The simplest numbers are the positive integers 1, 2, 3, . . . which are used
for counting sets of objects. New kinds of numbers are used to serve other
purposes.
Rational numbers arise when you divide one integer by another i.e. they
are of the form a/b where a and b are integers. Irrational numbers are
introduced when problems of measurement arise. Rational and irrational
numbers are often conveniently expressed in decimal form. A rational
number can be expressed as a terminating or a recurring decimal:
1
= 0.25 and
4

1
= 0.333333 . . .
3

and

1
= 0.142857142857 . . .
7

An irrational number can be written as a non-recurring decimal to arbitrary

accuracy. The
simplest irrational number is the square root of 2 and can
be written 2 = 1.41421356 . . . and the irrational number can be written
= 3.14159265 . . . both of these to 8 decimal places.
Negative numbers and zero (usually written 0) are introduced to deal
with accounting problems where debts and credits have to be dealt with
a credit is a positive number and a debt is a negative number. Positive and
negative numbers can also be represented as points on a straight line. The
point representing zero is the origin O and positive numbers are represented
by points to the right of O and negative numbers by points to the left. Addition corresponds to successive displacements with respect to O which is
regarded as a reference point.
A prime number p is a positive integer (other than 1) which cannot be
written as the product of two smaller positive integers. It can only be written as the product of the number p itself and 1. Any positive integer can be
written as the product of primes in only one way i.e. if a is a positive integer
we can write a = p1 p2 p3 . . . pn in only one way provided the primes p1 , p2 ,
. . . pn are arranged in increasing order. In this expression the primes are not
necessarily different i.e. the same prime can appear more than once and you
could have, for example, that p6 = p5 . It is quite easy to prove that there are
an infinite number of primes. You can think of primes as the building blocks
(via multiplication) of the number system. You should be able to recognise
the lowest few primes (2, 3, 5, 7, 11, 13, 17, . . .).

The basic arithmetic operations you need are addition, subtraction,

multiplication and division. Given any two numbers, a and b say, you can
add, subtract or multiply them. But you cannot always divide a by b. If
b = 0 then division is not allowed. You have to keep this in mind always.
When carrying out calculations there is a conventional order in which operations are performed. You must respect this order. The order can be
remembered by using the mnemonic BODMAS which stands for the following order of priorities:
1. First priority: Brackets (. . .)
2. Second priority: Of , Division or /, Multiplication
3. Third priority: Addition +, Subtraction .
There are three rules which are used in arithmetic (and simple algebra) which
you should know and be able to use:
1. Commutative: a b = b a and a + b = b + a the order of the
factors in a product or terms in a sum is unimportant.
2. Distributive: a(b + c) = a b + a c this tells you how to remove
brackets.
3. Associative: a(b c) = (a b)c and a + (b + c) = (a + b) + c
these tell you how to rearrange brackets.
You must be totally fluent in arithmetic and be able to perform any permitted operation involving two numbers quickly and accurately with or without
use of your calculator. You should be able to factorise a not-too-large nonprime integer into its prime factors e.g. 228 = 2.2.3.19.
You should also be familiar with the idea of a relation between two numbers
a and b. The most common relations are:
1. equality:

a = b,

2. greater than:

a > b,

3. less than:

a < b,

4. greater than or equal to:

ab

5. less than or equal to:

a b.
3

and

Great care must be taken on manipulating inequalities (relations 2.5.). For

example consider any three numbers a, b and c then if a < b and c > 0 it
follows that c a < c b. However if a < b and c < 0 it follows that c a > c b.
If c = 0 it follows that c a = c b. The important thing to notice is that
the direction of the resulting inequality depends on the sign of c.
Similar results hold for the other three types of inequality.
You should also be familiar with the idea of an index or a power n which
for the present we think of as a positive integer. This counts up the number
of factors a in a string of multiplications. We have for example: a2 = a a
where n = 2 is the index or a5 = a a a a a where n = 5 is the index. Also
a0 = 1 and a1 = a. If the index is negative then we use the following
an = 1/an i.e. negative indices imply division. Fractional indices involve
taking roots. If n is a fraction and an ambiguity of sign arises on taking the
root the
convention is used that an is positive.
For example, if n = 1/2 then

3
n
n
n
a = a so 4 = +2, or if n = 2/3 then a = a2 so (8)n = +4. You can
manipulate indices by using the following laws:
1. an am = an+m
2. an am = anm or alternatively an /am = anm
3. (an )m = anm
When manipulating expressions involving indices you should keep these laws
very clearly in mind and be aware at each stage of which law you are using.
It is quite difficult to divide by a long decimal. If an irrational square root
appears in the denominator of a fraction this is called a surd and it is quite
helpful to multiply the numerator and denominator by the conjugate of the
denominator and thus to rationalise the denominator. For example

2 3
2 3
1
=

=
=2 3
43
2+ 3
(2 + 3)(2 3)
and this last result is easy to evaluate.

Later in the year (but not in this basic course) you will meet complex numbers which are a further extension of the number system and enable you
to discuss oscillations and vibrations easily. There are also other extensions
used for different purposes. The numbers we have discussed above are sometimes called real numbers to distinguish them from complex numbers. The
relations quoted above (2.-5.) cannot be used for complex numbers.
4

ALGEBRA.

Algebra involves the manipulation of expressions in which letters are used

to represent numbers. Algebra gives general results which are valid for all
values that the letters can take as opposed to arithmetic which gives specific
results for specific numbers. The basic rules for algebra are the same as those
for arithmetic.
Algebraic expressions usually involve one or more constants usually written a, b, c, . . . which may or may not be specified and one or more variables
x, y, z, . . .. Expressions can also depend on variables or constants which
take on integral values only. These are usually denoted by symbols such as
l, m, n, p, . . ..
In a complicated expression the constant factor which multiplies the variable factor in a given term is called the coefficient e.g. in the expression
2 x2 + (a + b) xy 3 the constant 2 is the coefficient of x2 and a + b is the coefficient of xy 3 . The quantities x and y are variables and may take on any
value in a specified range.
An equation is a statement that two algebraic expressions are equal and
it implies that a variable takes on a specific value. Thus a linear equation
i.e. an equation of the form a x + b = 0 has a root x = b/a. Consequently
if 2 x + 3 = 0 then x = 3/2. An identity is a statement that two algebraic expressions are the same even though they may look different e.g.
(x + 3)(x + 2) x2 + 5 x + 6. It gives no information about the variable x.
Note the difference between the two symbols = and .
One particular type of algebraic expression is called a polynomial. Polynomials are made up by adding together a finite string of terms each of which
consists of a positive integral power of x multiplied by a constant coefficient.
The highest power of x is called the order or degree of the polynomial. The
following are examples:
P3 (x) 1 + 3 x + 5 x2 9 x3 with order 3
Pn (x) a0 + a1 x + a2 x2 + a3 x3 + + an xn with order n
5

In the last example the index r in ar gives the power of x for which ar is
the coefficient where r = 0, 1, 2, . . . or n. Polynomials of order 2 are called
quadratics and polynomials of order 3 are called cubics.
An important algebraic process is factorisation. You should be able to factorise many simple quadratics by inspection eg. (a) x2 +2 x8 = (x2)(x+4)
and (b) 2 x2 + 5 x + 3 = (2 x + 3)(x + 1). The roots of the quadratics are
the values that make the quadratic equal to zero. In the two examples above
the roots are (a) x = 2 and 4 and (b) x = 3/2 and 1. If you know the
roots you know the factors and vice versa.
There is a simple formula which enables you to find the roots and hence
the factors ofa quadratic. If a x2 + b x + c = 0 then the roots are
r1 = (b + b2 4 ac)/2 a and r2 = (b b2 4 ac)/2 a . The corresponding factorisation is a x2 + b x + c = a(x r1 )(x r2 ). Note that this
gives real roots only if the discriminant b2 4 ac 0. The two roots
are the same if = 0. You must be familiar with this formula and its use.
The factorisation of higher order polynomials is much harder.
A rational expression is an expression of the form Pn (x)/Pm (x) where
Pn (x) and Pm (x) are polynomials of order n and m respectively. Later on
in Integral Calculus you will see that is necessary to be able to write a rational expression in terms of a sum of partial fractions i.e. simpler terms
each of which is easy to integrate. The basic process is simple but there are
lots of separate cases to consider so you have to be careful. There are several
steps.
1. If n < m go to step 3. If n m go to step 2.
2. Now divide Pm (x) into Pn (x) so that you get
Ps (x)
Pn (x)
= Q(x) +
Pm (x)
Pm (x)
where Q(x) is a polynomial of order n m and Ps (x) is a polynomial
of order s < m. ( N.B. You need to be able to divide polynomials.)
Then go to step 3 treating the last term as the rational expression.
3. Factorise the denominator Pm (x) into factors. If the factors are all
linear then the rest of the process is easy but if you have quadratic or
higher order factors it is a bit harder and will be discussed later. Just
for the present suppose we have m linear factors so that
Pm (x) = c (x + a1 )(x + a2 ) (x + am ).
6

Suppose also that each of the constants a1 , a2 , . . . , am are different.

4. Now (with l = n or s as appropriate) write the rational expression as
Pl (x)
A1
A2
Am
=
+
+ +
Pm (x)
x + a1 x + a2
x + am
where the numerators A1 , A2 , . . . Am are to be determined.
5. Now multiply both sides by Pm (x) and then a simple example with
m = 2 shows how to proceed. We get the following identity:
1
Pl (x) A1 (x + a2 ) + A2 (x + a1 )
c
6. Now substitute x = a1 to get A1 =
to get A2 =

1
Pl (a1 ) and x = a2
c(a2 a1 )

1
Pl (a2 ). If m > 2 the same process gives
c(a1 a2 )
A1 =

1
Pl (a1 )
c(a2 a1 ) (al a1 )

and similar expressions for A2 , . . . Am .

7. If the polynomial in the denominator contains a quadratic or higher
order factor such as x2 + a x + b then the corresponding term in the
partial fraction is the partial fraction
Ax + B
+ ax + b

x2

and multiplication by the denominator is carried out in order to determine the constants A and B.
8. If the polynomial contains a factor x + a repeated p-times then instead
of one term in the partial fraction you have p terms of the form
B2
Bp
B1
+
+ +
.
2
x + a (x + a)
(x + a)p
Multiplication by the denominator is again carried out in order to determine the constants.
9. In steps 7. and 8. the simple substitution trick will not be enough to
determine the constants and it will be necessary to equate coefficients
of powers of x on both sides in order to determine the constants.
7

You need to know summation notation for series:

j
X
m=i

tm ti + ti+1 + ti+2 + + tj .

The index i gives the index on the first term, j gives the index on the last
term and the index increases by 1 each time as you go from term to term.
You also need to know about two kinds of series:
1. A geometric series containing n + 1 terms is of the form
n
X
m=0

a xm = a + a x + a x2 + a x3 + a xn .

The first term is a and the common ratio is x. The series has sum
1 xn+1
.
S=a
1x
e.g. the geometric series
2 + 6 + 18 + 54 + 486 = 2 + 2.3 + 2.32 + 2.33 + 2.35 .
The common ratio is 3, the first term is 2 and the last term has the
factor 35 so the number of terms is 6. The sum is
S=2

1 36
= 728.
13

2. An arithmetic series containing n + 1 terms is of the form

n
X

(a + m d) = a + (a + d) + (a + 2 d) + (a + 3 d) + (a + n d).

m=0

The first term is a and the common difference is d. The series has sum
S=

(n + 1)
(a + a + n d).
2

e.g. the arithmetic series

3 + 5 + 7 + 9 + 43 = 3 + (3 + 2) + (3 + 2.2) + (3 + 20.2).
The common difference is 2, the first term is 3 and the number of terms
is 21. The sum is
21
S = (3 + 43) = 483.
2
8

COMBINATORICS BINOMIAL THEOREM.

Here we are interested in counting up the number of different arrangements

of objects in a set. Problems of this kind arise in the Binomial Theorem, in
Statistics and in Physics.
Suppose we have a set of five objects e.g. the set of letters {A, B, C, D, E}.
Then these letters can be arranged in different permutations ABCDE, or
DBCAE, or EACBD etc. Then we ask how many different permutations are
there. The answer is that there are 5! 5.4.3.2.1 different permutations.
For the first letter there are 5 possibilities, for the second only 4 because one
has been used, for the third only 3 etc. The final answer is obtained by just
multiplying these numbers.
The general result is that if we have n different objects then there are
Pn = n! n.(n 1) 3.2.1 permutations. The factorial symbol n! is
by convention given the value 1 when n = 0 i.e. 0! = 1
If we have n different objects and we choose m of them (with m < n
of course) and ask how many different arrangements result then there are
n.(n 1). (n m + 1) possibilities. This is called the number of permutations of n objects taken m at a time and written n Pm = n!/(n m)!
If we have n different objects and we choose m of them (with m < n of
course) and ask how many different choices we can make irrespective of
order then we have to divide the previous result by the number of permutations of m objects i.e. by Pm = m! . This gives the number of combinations
of n objects taken m at a time. This is written n Cm = n!/(n m)!m!
Note that n C0 =n Cn = 1.
A quick technique for deriving the n Cm s is from Pascals triangle.
1
1
1
1
1

2
3

4
5

1
1
3
6

10

1
4

10

1
5

etc. where each row is formed from the one above by adding the two integers
immediately above to the left and to the right. The combination n Cm is
9

found by looking for the (m + 1)-th number in the n-th row so 5 C2 is found
by looking for the third number in the fifth row i.e. 10.
The Binomial theorem provides a quick and easy way of expanding the
n-th power of a Binomial expression such as (a + b)n where n is a positive
integer. This is a string of n factors (a + b). Each term in the expansion
will have a factor consisting of a power of a multiplied by a power of b, the
powers adding up to to n e.g. one such term is ans bs with 0 s n. The
number of different ways of getting a contribution to this term is calculated
by counting the number of different ways of choosing exactly s factors of b
from the n factors which make up the original expression i.e. n Cs . The final
result is the binomial theorem which states:
(a + b)n =

n
X

Cs ans bs

s=0

An example follows:

(a + b)5 = a5 + 5 a4 b + 10 a3 b2 + 10 a2 b3 + 5 a b4 + b5 .

(If n is not a positive integer a form of the Binomial Theorem still holds
but we do not discuss it here.)

10

FUNCTIONS AND GRAPHS.

A function is a recipe or method for finding the value of one variable y if

you are given the value of another variable x. The variable x is called the
independent variable and y is called the dependent variable. The independent variable x is sometimes called the argument of the function. The
relationship between the two variables is often written y = f (x).
The recipe does not have to be expressed in algebraic terms but it must
give a single definite answer. Here are some examples:
1. f (x) = 3 x + 2. This is called a linear or straight line function.
2. f (x) = x2 . This is called a quadratic or parabolic function.
3. f (x) = 0 if x < 0 and f (x) = 1 if x 0. Notice that the function
jumps from 0 to 1 at x = 0. It is discontinuous at x = 0 and the
discontinuity is 1. This is called the Heaviside function.
4. f (x) = x if x 0 and f (x) = x if x < 0. This is a very important
function which you should know about. It is called the modulus or
magnitude of x and is written f (x) =| x | . Note that it is always
positive or zero. It is not discontinuous but it has a discontinuous
slope at x = 0.
5. Functions can also be represented or specified by graphs so if y = f (x)
and x is given the value of y can be read off from the graph in the
figure.
f (x)

Range R

Domain D
x

11

Functions are sometimes defined only over a limited set of values of the
argument and this set is known as the domain e.g. if f (x) = (1 x2 )1/2 the
function is only defined over the domain 1 x 1 because if x is outside
this domain the square root has a negative argument and the function cannot
be evaluated in terms of real numbers. Note the positive sign in front of the
root in conformity with the sign convention on p4.
The set of values that the function can take is the range e.g. f (x) = x2
has range f 0 and the function f (x) = (1 x2 )1/2 has range 0 f 1.
Notice also that we can change the name of the independent variable while
leaving the function unchanged so that in case 1 above we can call the independent variable t and the function is then written f (t) = 3 t + 2. This
flexibility of names is one of the strengths of functional notation. So for
example if t = x2 then f (x2 ) = 3 x2 + 2.
This last idea leads us to the idea of a function of a function or a composite function:
If we have two functions f (x) and g(x) we can define a composite function h(x) f (g(x)). Thus if f (x) = x3 and g(x) = 2 x 1 we have
h(x) = (2 x 1)3 = 8 x3 12 x2 + 6 x 1.
On the other hand if we define the composite function k(x) g(f (x)) we
then have k(x) = 2 (x3 ) 1. Notice that h(x) and k(x) are different functions. In compounding functions such as h(x) = f (g(x)) you have to be a
bit careful and you must ensure that the range of g is in the domain of f .
Inverse functions can be defined as follows. If y = f (x) then the inverse
function f 1 takes y back to x so that x = f 1 (y). We sometimes wish to
emphasise that the argument is called x and the dependent variable is called
y so we write y = f 1 (x). The function is still the same but the names of
the variables have been changed. This has an easy graphical interpretation:
you reflect the function in a straight line of slope 1 through the origin O so
that the x and y axes are interchanged.
If we carry out this procedure for the graph above we get the graph shown
here. Note that the domain and the range are also interchanged.

12

f 1 (x)

R0
D0
x

Examples of inverse functions follow:

If f (x) = 2x + 3 then x = (f 3)/2 so f 1 (x) = (x 3)/2.
If f (x) = x2 then x = (f )1/2 so f 1 (x) = (x)1/2 .
If f (x) = (1 x2 )1/2 in the domain 0 x 1 then the range is 0 f 1
and x = (1 f 2 )1/2 so f 1 (x) = (1 x2 )1/2 with the same range and domain
as before. Notice that here the inverse function is the same as the original
function.
It is a very bad mistake to put f 1 (x) = 1/f (x).
There are some special types of functions which have various kinds of symmetries:
1. An even function satisfies f (x) = f (x). Graphically this means
that the function goes back into itself if we reverse the direction of the
x axis. The graph has reflection symmetry in the y axis. An example
is f (x) = x4 .
2. An odd function satisfies f (x) = f (x). Graphically this means
that the function goes back into itself if we rotate the whole xy plane
through 180o about an axis through the origin and perpendicular to
the plane. An example is f (x) = x3 .
3. A periodic function repeats itself along the horizontal axis at regular
intervals so that f (x + T ) = f (x) for all x. The repeat distance T is
called the period. A simple example is f (x) = sin x which has period
T = 2. N.B. The argument of sin x is always in radians and not in
degrees.
There are some special functions that you need. You also need to know their
graphs.
13

1. Trigonometric functions: These will be left to the section on trigonometry.

2. Exponential function: We first need to define the irrational number
e = 2.71828 . . .. This is defined by an infinite series as follows:
e

1
1
1
1
= 1 + + + +
1! 2! 3!
m=0 m!

The exponential function is usually written exp(x) and is defined by

exp(x) ex
i.e. e raised to the power x. Note that exp(0) = 1 and that exp(x)
increases as x moves to the right and decreases as x moves to the left.
A graph is shown. You must be familiar with this graph. Notice that
the range is 0 < exp(x). The domain is the whole x axis. You should
also be familiar with the graph of exp(x) which is also shown.
y
f (x) = ex

8
f (x) = ex

1
1

The basic properties follow from the laws of indices so:

exp(x) exp(y) = exp(x + y)
exp(x)/ exp(y) = exp(x y)
(exp(x))n = exp(n x)
3. The logarithmic function is sometimes written log x and sometimes
written ln x. We will use the second notation. This function is the
inverse function to the exponential function above. (N.B. These are
logs to base e. We hardly ever use logs to base 10.) The graph is
shown.
14

y
2

f (x) = ln x

1
x
1

1
Notice that the domain is 0 < x and the range is the whole y axis as
can be deduced from the properties of the exponential function.
The consequence is that you can never take the logarithm of
a negative number or 0. The basic properties follow from the basic
properties of the exponential function above:
ln (x y) = ln x + ln y
ln (x/y) = ln x ln y
n ln x = ln (xn )
You should be very familiar with the following points about graphs:
1. The linear function y = a x + b gives a straight line,
You should be able to see where the line intercepts the
x and y axes and be able to determine its slope.
2. The quadratic function y = a x2 + b x + c gives a
parabola. You should be able to determine the
orientation of the parabola, the intercepts with
the axes and the position of the maximum or minimum.
You should be able to state what changing the value
of a does to the parabola and what changing the value of c does.
3. You should be able to draw rough graphs of y = xn and y = xn for
any positive integral value of n.
4. If you have the graph of a function y = f (x) and two numbers a and
b (which can be positive, negative or zero) you should immediately be
able to say what the effect of each of the following transformations is:
y = f (x + a)
y = f (x) + a
y = f (b x)
y = b f (x)
15

x = f (y)
5. If you have a relation y = a xb and you take logarithms you get
ln y = b ln x + ln a. Now write Y = ln y, X = ln x and A = ln a so
that the equation becomes Y = b X + A and draw a graph of Y against
X which is a straight line. From the intercept with the Y axis you can
determine A and hence a and from the slope you can determine b. This
method is very useful in analysing experimental results. It is called a
log-log plot. If you have a straight line in a log-log plot it tells you that
you have a power law between y and x.

16

CARTESIAN GEOMETRY.

Here we are concerned with the quantitative geometry of points in a plane.

First we choose a fixed point called the origin O as a reference point. Then
we choose two axes at right angles through the point O as x and y axes.
Now any point P in the plane can be located by means of two numbers (x, y)
called coordinates which measure how far you must travel from O along the
x axis and then parallel to the y axis to get to P .
We are now able to calculate the distance from O to P by means of Pythagoras theorem and also the slope of the line OP :
distance = OP =

x2 + y 2

and slope = m =

y
.
x

If we have two points L and M with coordinates (x1 , y1 )

and (x2 , y2 ) then the distance from L to M is
LM =

(x1 x2 )2 + (y1 y2 )2

and the slope of the line LM is

m=

y2 y1
.
x2 x 1

Note that if the line slants up to the right the slope is positive and if the
line slants down to the right the slope is negative.
y
M (x2 , y2 )
y2 y1

L(x1 , y1 )
x2 x1

An important fact about a straight line is that the slope of the line is
the same everywhere. This can be used to derive the equation of the line.
17

If we have two fixed points on the line L and M with coordinates (x1 , y1 )
and (x2 , y2 ) and a variable point P with coordinates (x, y) we can calculate
the slope using L and M or using L and P and we get the same result so we
get the equation of the line:
y2 y1
y y1
=
.
x x1
x2 x1
There are various alternative ways of writing this such as:
y=

y2 y1
(x x1 ) + y1
x2 x1

or

y = mx + c

where the slope m is given as above and the intercept with the y-axis
c = m x1 + y1 .
We can also write down the equation of a circle. If we have a point
with coordinates (x, y) on the circle then the distance to a fixed point is
always the same. This distance is the radius r and the fixed point is the
centre. The equation of the circle with centre at O and radius r is then:
x2 + y 2 = r 2 .
If the centre is at (x1 , y1 ) then the equation is:
(x x1 )2 + (y y1 )2 = r2 .
We can also specify the position of a point P using polar coordinates (r, )
where r is the distance from P to O and us the angle between OP and the
the x axis. The relation between polar coordinates and Cartesian coordinates
can be expressed as
x = r cos and y = r sin
or alternatively as
r=

x2 + y 2 and = tan1 (y/x).

18

TRIGONOMETRY.

The first important thing to remember is that from now on angles should
always be measured in radians. The reason is that all the formulas of
calculus are much easier when angles are in radians. In order to convert an
angle in degrees to radians you have to multiply by /180. This gives the
following table of correspondences which you should remember:
DEGREES RADIAN S
0
0
30
/6
45
/4
60
/3
90
/2
180

270
3/2
360
2
If you have a circle of radius r and an arc of the circle subtends an angle
at the centre then
the length of the arc = r

and the area of the sector =

1 2
r .
2

The basic trigonometric functions are defined with respect to the right-angled
triangle in the diagram:
sin =

BC
,
AC

cos =

AB
,
AC

tan =

BC
.
AB

The remaining functions are defined in terms of the three above:

cosec = 1/ sin ,

sec = 1/ cos ,

19

cot = 1/ tan .

The trigonometric functions satisfy the following identities which are consequences of Pythagoras theorem:
sin2 + cos2 1,

sec2 1 + tan2 ,

cosec2 1 + cot2 .

Four of the functions are periodic with period 2 so that

sin(+2) = sin , cos(+2) = cos , cosec (+2) = cosec , sec(+2) = sec
and two of the functions have period so that
tan( + ) = tan ,

cot( + ) = cot .

You should be familiar with the graphs of all these functions and you should
be able to state immediately the values of the functions at each of the special
values of quoted in the table below:

sin

cos

/6

1/2

/4

1/ 2

/3

3/2

3/2

tan
0

1/ 3

1/ 2

1/2

/2

3/2

You can use the trigonometric functions to derive the following formulas
Area of a parallelogram = a b sin ,
1
a b sin .
2
The following identities enable you to find the trigonometric functions of the
sum of two angles:
Area of a triangle =

sin( + ) sin cos + cos sin ,

20

cos( + ) cos cos sin sin ,

tan + tan
.
1 tan tan
These can be used to derive the double angle formulas:
tan( + )

sin 2 = 2 sin cos ,

cos 2 = cos2 sin2 ,
2 tan
.
tan 2 =
1 tan2
If the angle is small then the trigonometric functions can be approximated
by the first few terms of the following Maclaurin series (see later):
sin = 3 /3! + 5 /5! ,
cos = 1 2 /2! + 4 /4! ,
tan = + 3 /3 + .

We can also define the inverse trigonometric functions sin1 x, cos1 x and
tan1 x using the ideas from section 4. (It is a bad mistake to think these
are the reciprocals of sin x, cos x and tan x.) The graphs are obtained by
interchanging the horizontal and vertical axes. These are shown in the diagrams. Note that the graphs are multiple-valued. In other words a single
value of x can give many different values of e.g. sin1 x. This ambiguity can
be removed by using a convention in which a value from a particular range is
always returned. This value is called the principal value of the function and
your calculator will always return the principal value.
y = sin1 (x)

/2
x
1

1
/2

21

y = cos1 (x)

x
1

/2

y = tan1 (x)

/2

The principal values for each function are shown by the heavy line in the
diagrams. The domains and ranges of each of the functions are given in the
following table:
F U N CT ION DOM AIN

RAN GE

sin1 x

[1, 1]

[/2, /2]

cos1 x

[1, 1]

[0, ]

tan1 x

(, )

(/2, /2)

Note the shape of the brackets in the above table. Square brackets are used
if the end points are included but round brackets are used if the end points
are not included.

22

DIFFERENTIAL CALCULUS.

Suppose we have a smooth function f (x) which is represented graphically by

a curve y = f (x) then we can draw a tangent to the curve at any point P .
It is important to be able to calculate the slope of the tangent. Of course
a graphical method can be used but this is rather imprecise so we use the
following analytical method: We choose a second point Q on the curve which
is near P and join the two points with a straight line P Q called a secant and
calculate the slope of the line. Then we allow Q to approach P so that the
secant swings around until it just touches the curve and becomes a tangent.
The limit of the slope of the secant is the required slope of the tangent.
y

rQ
secant 
( tangent at P
 (((
Pr(
(((
(

f (x)
x

f (x + x)
-x
x + x

We can put this more precisely and more usefully. Suppose the coordinates
of P are (x, y) and the coordinates of Q are (x + x, y + y) so that y = f (x)
and y + y = f (x + x). Then the slope of the secant is
f (x + x) f (x)
y
=
.
x
x
The slope of the tangent is
y
f (x + x) f (x)
= lim
.
x0 x
x0
x
lim

You should be able to calculate this limit in many simple cases. The limit is
also called the derivative or differential of y or f (x) with respect to x and
is written
dy
df
or
or f 0 (x).
dx
dx
These are just different notations for the same thing.
You should be able to differentiate the following functions from the method
above:
23

1. f (x) = x.
2. f (x) = x2 .

3. f (x) = x but this is a bit harder.

4. f (x) = xn with the help of the binomial theorem.
You should also commit the following table of derivatives to memory. You will encounter them very frequently in your course and you will be
at a significant disadvantage later if you cannot bring them to mind immediately when required.
f (x) = c

f 0 (x) = 0

f (x) = x

f 0 (x) = 1

f (x) = x2

f 0 (x) = 2 x

f (x) = xn

f 0 (x) = n xn1

f (x) = ex

f 0 (x) = ex

f (x) = ln x

f 0 (x) = 1/x

f (x) = sin x

f 0 (x) = cos x

f (x) = cos x f 0 (x) = sin x

f (x) = tan x f 0 (x) = sec2 x
You also need to know how to differentiate combinations of functions. In
what follows u(x) and v(x) are any differentiable functions of x.
1. SUM RULE:
f (x) = u(x) + v(x) f 0 (x) = u0 (x) + v 0 (x).
2. PRODUCT RULE:
f (x) = u(x) v(x) f 0 (x) = u0 (x) v(x) + u(x) v 0 (x).
3. QUOTIENT RULE:
f (x) = u(x)/v(x) f 0 (x) = (u0 (x) v(x) u(x) v 0 (x))/v(x)2 .

24

4. CHAIN RULE:
f (x) = u(v) where v = v(x) f 0 (x) = u0 (v) v 0 (x).
du
du dv
Or alternatively
=
.
dx
dv dx
This enablesyou to differentiate a function of a function
e.g. f (x) = 1 + x2 where u(v) = v 1/2 and v(x) = 1 + x2 .
5. INVERSE FUNCTION RULE:
Suppose y = f 1 (x) then we first write x = f (y), then calculate
dx/dy = f 0 (y) and finally write dy/dx = (f 0 (y))1 .
!1
dy
dx
=
.
In summary
dx
dy
With the help of the rules above you should be able to differentiate any combination of simple functions no matter how complicated.
One of the points of differential calculus is to be able to tell when functions
have extremes or stationary points or turning points. In the graph the
function has a maximum at A and a minimum at B. At these points the
tangent is horizontal so the slope is zero. The slope is also zero at the point
C where the tangent crosses the curve. C is not a maximum or minimum but
it is a point of inflexion with horizontal tangent. The point D is also
a point of inflexion because the tangent crosses the curve but the tangent is
not horizontal.

rC

f (x)
6

ArA

A
DArA
r
A B
A

-x

In order to locate and distinguish these points we need to know how

to differentiate the function once or twice or many times depending on the
circumstances. If you differentiate twice you get the second derivative written

25

in one of these ways:

d
dx

df
dx

d2 f
= f 00 (x) = f (2) (x).
dx2

Third and higher derivatives are usually written f (n) (x) with n = 3 or more
to save counting dashes. You then have the following rules for a point P on
the curve with coordinates (x, y):
1. If f 0 (x) = 0 and f 00 (x) > 0 then there is a minimum at P type B.
2. If f 0 (x) = 0 and f 00 (x) < 0 then there is a maximum at P type A.
3. If f 0 (x) = 0 and f 00 (x) = 0 you need more information to determine
the nature of P .
4. If f 0 (x) = 0 and f 00 (x) = 0 but f (3) (x) 6= 0 then there is a point of
inflexion with horizontal tangent at P type C.
5. If f 0 (x) 6= 0 and f 00 (x) = 0 and f (3) (x) 6= 0 there is a point of inflexion
at P but the tangent is not horizontal type D.
(Other cases rarely arise and are more complicated. For the record:
If the first derivative which is not 0 is of even order then the function has a
maximum or minimum;
But if the first derivative which is not 0 is of odd order then you have a point
of inflexion with horizontal tangent;
Finally if f 0 (x) 6= 0 and all other derivatives up to but not including an odd
one are zero then you have a point of inflexion but the tangent is not horizontal.)
One of the important results of differential calculus is that if a function
f (x) can be differentiated indefinitely many times over at the point x = 0
then it can be expanded as a Maclaurin series which is an infinite series
of powers of x rather like a geometric series. (This is true provided the series converges. The topic of convergence will be discussed later in the year.
Just take it for granted at the moment.) In what follows f (n) (0) is the n-th
derivative of f (x) evaluated at x = 0. The Maclaurin series is:
f (x) = f (0) + f (1) (0) x + f (2) (0) x2 /2! + f (3) (0) x3 /3! +
It is sometimes useful to shift the point about which the expansion is made
to a value of x = x0 which is removed from the origin. In this case we get a
Taylor series which is:
f (x) = f (x0 )+f (1) (x0 ) (xx0 )+f (2) (x0 ) (xx0 )2 /2!+f (3) (x0 ) (xx0 )3 /3!+
26

The Maclaurin series is a special case of the Taylor series with x0 = 0.

It is comparatively easy to get the Maclaurin series expansions for some
trigonometric functions and some rational functions and for the exponential
function e.g.
cos x = 1 x2 /2! + x4 /4! x6 /6! +
sin x = x x3 /3! + x5 /5! x7 /7! +
(1 x)2 = 1 + 2 x + 3 x2 + 4 x3 +

ex = 1 + x + x2 /2! + x3 /3! + x4 /4! +

INTEGRAL CALCULUS.

There are two ways of understanding the meaning of an integral. The link
between them is given by what is sometimes called the Fundamental Theorem of Calculus. The two ways are:
1. The integral of a function f (x) is defined to be the function F (x) which
when differentiated gives back f (x).
Z
dF (x)
= f (x) which is also written
f (x) dx = F (x) + c.
dx
The arbitrary constant c is added because on differentiating it gives
0. You must always put in the arbitrary constant explicitly when integrating. This form of integral is called the indefinite integral.

Thus

You should be able to integrate polynomials, exponentials, trigonometric functions, rational functions and logarithms. You should be
able to change the variable of integration and you should know about
integration by parts which is a technique that enables you to integrate
products of these functions and some other examples.
Some integrals can be evaluated by inspection. Ask yourself what
funcR
tion F (x) when differentiated returns f (x) e.g. try to evaluate x dx.
Some examples of simple integrals and techniques:
(a) LINEARITY
Z

[a f (x) + b g(x)] dx = a

27

f (x) dx + b

g(x) dx

(b) CHANGE OF VARIABLE

Z
du
f (u(x)) dx = f (u) du
dx
(c) INTEGRATION BY PARTS
Z

(d)
(e)
(f)
(g)
(h)
(i)

Z
Z
Z
Z
Z
Z

Z
dv
du
dx = u(x) v(x) v(x)
dx
dx
dx
xn+1
xn dx =
+ c provided n 6= 1
n+1
1
dx = ln | x | +c
x
1
ekx dx = ekx + c
k
1
sin kx dx = cos kx + c
k
1
cos kx dx = sin kx + c
k

u(x)

sec x dx = ln | sec x + tan x | +c

1
x
1
dx = tan1 + c
2
+x
a
a
(k) AN EXAMPLE OF THE USE OF PARTIAL FRACTIONS
(j)

a2

Z
1
1
1
1
dx =

2
x 1
2 x1 x+1


1
dx = ln
2



x 1

+c



x+1

N.B. The use of modulus signs in (e), (i) and (k) is designed to ensure
that the argument of the ln function is positive.
2. The other form of integral is called the definite integral. It is given
in terms of the function F (x) above as follows:
Z b
a

f (x) dx = F (b) F (a).

The Fundamental Theorem of calculus states that the definite integral

is equal to the area between the curve y = f (x), the x axis and the two
vertical lines x = a and x = b. (See diagram.)

28

y
6

y = f (x)
A
a

b
Rb
a

-x

f (x) dx = A

y
6

y = f (x)
A2

a
A1
Rb
a

-x

f (x) dx = A2 |A1 |

Addition of areas is interpreted in an algebraic sense so areas under

the x axis are interpreted as negative. Note that the name given to
the variable of integration has no significance. (It is called a dummy
variable.) So that we can write:
Z b

f (x) dx =

Z b

f (t) dt

and we can also write:

d Zx
f (t) dt = f (x)
dx a
This follows from the fact that
Z x
a

f (t) dt = F (x) F (b) and

29

dF (x)
= f (x).
dx

y
6

y = f (x)

x 4 x5 b

-x


-

xm
Area of shaded strip f (x4 ) xm
You can think of the definite integral as follows (see diagram above):
(a) Divide up the area to be evaluated into m thin strips of width
xm = (b a)/m called elements. Strip i is at position xi .

(b) Then evaluate the area of each element ignoring the fact that
the element has a sloping and curving top. Area of strip i is
Ai f (xi ) xm .

(c) Add up these areas to get an approximation to the whole area.

P
A m
i=1 f (xi ) xm .

(d) Take the limit of the sum as the width of each element goes to 0.
(You must remember of course that the number of elements goes
up as the width goes down.)
A = lim

m
X

f (xi ) xm .

i=1

(e) This gives the exact area under the curve and is a rather cumbersome way of evaluating the definite integral
A=

Z b

f (x) dx.

The point of the above procedure is that it is generalisable and gives a

method for finding many properties of geometrically extended objects.
For example we can use this method to calculate by integration such
quantities as lengths of curves, areas, volumes, centroids, moments of
inertia and many others.

30

VECTORS AND MECHANICS.

The simplest vectors are displacements (movements) from one point P to

another point Q. Suppose the coordinates of P are (x, y, z) and the coordinates of Q are (x0 , y 0 , z 0 ). Then the vector joining P to Q is
PQ = (x0 x, y 0 y, z 0 z).
Note that the direction of the vector is from P to Q. The initial point of the
vector is insignificant; it is the length and direction that are significant.

P (x, y, z) 
r

*






r Q(x0 , y 0 , z 0 )

More generally we write a vector A = (a1 , a2 , a3 ) so that the vector is

represented by the three numbers a1 , a2 and a3 which are the components. A
quantity such as mass which is represented by one number is called a scalar.
You should be aware of the notation: heavy type is used for vectors and light
type is used for components of vectors and for scalars.
Vectors can be used to represent many quantities
other than displacements
q
2
The length of the vector is written | A | a1 + a22 + a23 . This is sometimes
called the magnitude or modulus of the vector. The quantity
A =
A
|A|

a2
a3
a1
,
,
|A| |A| |A|

such
is called the unit vector in the direction of A. The components of A
as a1 / | A | etc. are called the direction cosines of A and give its direction.
Vectors are added by the triangle rule for addition
and in the diagram C = A + B.

31











-

A simple geometric argument shows that addition of vectors is commutative so that A + B = B + A.

Addition is also associative so that A + (B + C) = (A + B) + C.
These laws enable us to rearrange brackets at will and enable us to write a
vector in terms of its components in an alternative way A = a1 i + a2 j + a3 k
where a1 , a2 and a3 are the components and i, j and k are the unit vectors
along the coordinate directions.
One way in which vectors can be multiplied is called the scalar or dot
product because the result of the multiplication is a scalar. This can be
calculated in two different ways which yield the same result:
1. A B =| A | | B | cos

where is the angle between A and B.

2. A B = a1 b1 + a2 b2 + a3 b3 where A = (a1 , a2 , a3 ) and B = (b1 , b2 , b3 ).

Because they yield the same result and the two magnitudes | A | and | B |
are easy to calculate this yields an easy method for calculating cos and
hence the angle between the vectors.
The dot product is commutative i.e. A B = B A. However the dot
product is not associative because the product of three vectors is not defined
i.e. we cannot even calculate A B C.
The sum of two vectors is distributive with respect to the dot product
i.e. A (B + C) = A B + A C.
Furthermore the dot product A B =| A | cos | B | can be interpreted as
the projection of A onto the direction of B multiplied by the magnitude of
B.
The position of a point P in space relative to an origin O is given by a
position vector r = (x, y, z). If the point P moves then its velocity is
dr
=
v=
dt

dx dy dz
,
,
dt dt dt
32

and its acceleration is

d2 r
a= 2 =
dt

d2 x d2 y d2 z
.
,
,
dt2 dt2 dt2
!

This tells you that vectors can be used to represent directed quantities other
than displacements such as velocities, accelerations, forces, electric fields etc.
We can use some of these ideas to discuss circular motion such as the
motion of a stone on a string or a planet around the sun. Suppose a point P
moves in a circle of radius r around the origin O with constant speed v then
the following relationships hold:
v = r

and a = v 2 /r

and a = r 2

where a is the acceleration of P toward the centre and is the angular

velocity of the point P about O i.e. the rate of change with respect to time
of the angle subtended by the path of P at O. Notice that the magnitude
of the acceleration is constant but the direction is constantly changing as P
moves around the centre. If the circular path is in the xy plane we can also
write down the components of the position vector of P :
x(t) = r cos t and y(t) = r sin t
where we have assumed that the particle starts off on the x axis and moves
in the counter-clockwise direction. It is easy to make the necessary modifications if these last two assumptions are relaxed.
If on the other hand the point moves under an acceleration which is constant in magnitude and direction then the velocity and position vector of the
point as a function of time t (i.e. the path of the particle) are given by the
following two equations:
v = u + a t and r = r0 + u t + 21 a t2
where r0 and u are the position vector and velocity of the point at the initial
time t = 0. It is easy to show that the path is a parabola. If the acceleration
and initial velocity are in the same direction we can write these equations in
the form:
v = u + a t and s = u t + 12 a t2
where s is the distance moved from the initial point.
In order to discuss Mechanics you need Newtons three laws of motion:
33

1. A body continues in its state of rest or uniform motion unless acted

upon by an external force.
2. If a body is acted on by a force the acceleration is proportional to the
force and in the same direction.
This can be expressed in vector form as F = m a where the constant
of proportionality is the mass of the body.
3. To every force there is an equal and opposite reaction.
You should be familiar with some commonly encountered forces:
1. The force of gravitation can often be approximated as uniform and in
the downward direction so F = mg k.
2. The force of friction between two bodies in contact satisfies | F | R
where R is the normal reaction between the bodies and the direction
of F is in the plane of contact of the bodies.
You should be familiar with the concept of equilibrium and you should be
able to solve problems of bodies in equilibrium using ideas such as the resolution of forces with respect to an axis and the moment of forces about an axis.
You should be able to set up equations of motion for bodies out of equilibrium in the form of second order differential equations using the fact that
a = d2 r/dt2 . You should be able to solve these equations in simple cases.
You should be familiar with the ideas of energy E and momentum p = mv
and able to apply these ideas in situations where the energy or momentum
are conserved.

34