MAV SACs 2016, MM

MODELLING TASK

NAME:

MATHEMATICAL METHODS UNIT 4

School Assessed Coursework 2 (SAC 2):
Modelling Task 1

Reading Time: 20 minutes

Writing time: 140 minutes

QUESTION AND ANSWER BOOK

Structure of book
Number of Number of questions Number of
questions to be answered marks
7 7 87

— SAC 2 Modelling Task 1 consists of seven extended-response questions in the context of modelling
a particular problem.
— Students are permitted to bring into the assessment room: pens, pencils, highlighters, erasers,
sharpeners, rulers, one approved CAS calculator (memory DOES NOT need to be cleared) and, if
desired, one scientific calculator.
— Students are NOT permitted to bring into the assessment room: notes of any kind, blank sheets of
paper and/or correction fluid/tape.

Materials supplied
— Question and answer book of 25 pages, sheet of miscellaneous formulas.
— Working space is provided throughout the book.

Instructions
— Write your name in the space provided above on this page.
— All written responses must be in English.

Students are NOT permitted to bring mobile phones and/or any other unauthorised electronic
devices into the assessment room.
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Instructions
Answer all questions in the spaces provided.
In all questions where a numerical answer is required, an exact value must be given unless otherwise specified.
In questions where more than one mark is available, appropriate working must be shown.

Galaxian Highscore, the redoubtable adventurer, is moving furniture into his new house. His new
house has two hallways of widths 1.0 metre and 1.5 metres that meet at right angles. He needs to
move a heavy couch around the corner from one hallway to the other but is not sure if it will fit. The
couch is so heavy that it cannot be lifted, only slid. Before moving the couch, he decides to carry
out some calculations.

Galaxian decides to simplify his calculations by first considering the length of the longest pole that
can be carried horizontally around the corner. He wants to make his calculations relevant to other
houses with hallways of different widths meeting at right angles and so lets the hallways have a
width of a metres and b metres. Galaxian knows that the longest pole will be the shortest one that
remains in contact with the inside corner and walls and draws a diagram (shown below) that shows
this situation. The pole makes contact with the inside corner and the walls of width a and b at the
points C, A and B respectively. The angle θ is measured in radians. He lets the pole have a length
of L metres.

b
B

θ L
C

A D
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Question 1 (12 marks)

Consider Galaxian’s house where a = 1.0 and b = 1.5 .

1.5
a. i. Show that the length CB = . 1 mark
sin(θ )

ii. Obtain a rule for L as a function of θ . 2 marks

iii. State the domain of L. 1 mark

Question 1 - continued
TURN OVER
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b. Sketch a graph of L as a function of θ . Label all stationary points with their coordinates,
correct to four decimal places, and all asymptotes with their equation. 3 marks
L

c. i. Use calculus to find the value of tan(θ ) for the longest pole that fits around the corner. 3 marks

Question 1 - continued
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ii. Hence find the length of the longest pole that fits around the corner from the two hallways
in Galaxian’s house.
n/m
Give your answer in the form
(m m/n
+ nm/ n ) where m and n are integers. 2 marks
m

TURN OVER
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Question 2 (10 marks)

Now consider two hallways meeting at right angles where the widths of these hallways are a metres
and b metres (as shown above in Galaxian’s diagram).

a. Obtain a rule for L as a function of θ . 2 marks

Question 2 - continued
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b. i. Find in terms of a and b the value of tan(θ ) for the longest pole that fits around the corner. 3 marks

Question 2 – continued
TURN OVER
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ii. Hence find in terms of a and b the length of the longest pole that fits around a corner from
a hallway of width a into a hallway of width b.
Give your answer in the form ( f (a, b)) p where f (a, b) is a simple function of a and b and
p ∈Q. 3 marks

Question 2 - continued
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c. i. Find, correct to three decimal places, the length of the longest pole that fits around a corner
from a hallway of width 1.7 metres into a hallway of width 1.9 metres. 1 mark

ii. The length of the longest pole that fits around a corner from a hallway of width 1.6 metres
64 3
into another hallway is metres.
45
Find the width of the second hallway. 1 mark

TURN OVER
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Galaxian Highscore texts the length he found for the longest pole that fits around the corner of the
two hallways in his new house to Max Hardcase, his steadfast partner-in-adventure. He asks Max to
check his answer.

Max dislikes trigonometry and so decides to check Galaxian’s answer using a different method.
Referring to Galaxian’s diagram above, he lets u and v be the distances in metres from the corner D
to the points A and B respectively.

Question 3 (11 marks)

a. Write an expression for v in terms of u. 2 marks

Question 3 - continued
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b. i. Hence obtain a rule for L2 as a function of u. 1 mark

ii. State the domain of L2 . 1 mark

c. Sketch a graph of L2 as a function of u. Label all stationary points with their coordinates,
correct to four decimal places, and all asymptotes with their equation. 3 marks
2
L

Question 3 – continued
TURN OVER
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d. i. Use calculus to find the value of u for the longest pole that fits around the corner. 3 marks

ii. Hence confirm Galaxian’s answer. 1 mark

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Max Hardcase texts confirmation of the longest pole length to Galaxian Highscore and says that the
actual problem of moving the couch into his new house should now be investigated.

Galaxian decides to model the couch by a rectangle of length L metres and width w metres. He
knows that for a given width, the longest couch that can be slid around the corner will be the
shortest one that remains in contact with the inside corner and walls. Galaxian draws a diagram
(shown below) that shows this situation. The couch makes contact with the inside corner and walls
of width 1 metre and 1.5 metres at the points C, A and B respectively. The angle β is measured in
radians.

1.5 m

B
C
F

1m L
w E
β
A D

Galaxian also labels the points E and F showing where the continuation of each wall would
intersect with the rectangle.
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Question 4 (17 marks)

w
a. i. Show that the length EC = . 2 marks
cos( β )

ii. Hence find an expression for the length AE in terms of β and w. 3 marks

Question 4 – continued
TURN OVER
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w
b. i. Show that the length CF = . 2 marks
sin( β )

ii. Hence find an expression for the length FB in terms of β and w. 3 marks

Question 4 – continued
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c. Find an expression for the length EF in terms of β and w. 3 marks

cos( β ) + 1.5 sin(β ) − w

d. i. Hence show that L = . 1 mark
cos( β ) sin(β )

Question 4 - continued
TURN OVER
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ii. State the domain of L. 1 mark

iii. Show that the rule for L reduces to the rule found in Question 1 part a. ii. under
appropriate circumstances. 2 marks

Question 5 (4 marks)
Galaxian measures his couch and finds that it has a width of 0.75 metres and a length of 1.9 metres.

a. Sketch a graph of L as a function of β for w = 0.75 . Label all stationary points with their
coordinates, correct to four decimal places, and all asymptotes with their equation. 3 marks
L

Question 5 – continued
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b. Hence briefly explain why or why not Galaxians’s couch will fit around the corner of the two
hallways in his house. 1 mark

Galaxian decides that he would like a new couch that is wider than the one he currently has. He
considers buying the widest possible couch that fits around the corner of the two hallways in his
house.

Question 6 (7 marks)
a. For the new couch that Galaxian is thinking of buying:

i. State the width. 1 mark

ii. Sketch a graph of L as a function of β . Label all stationary points and endpoints with their
coordinates, correct to four decimal places, and all asymptotes with their equation. 4 marks
L

Question 6 – continued
TURN OVER
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Galaxian would also like the new couch to be as long as possible.

b. Find, correct to three decimal places, the area of the new couch. 2 marks

Galaxian notices that the new couch he is thinking of buying has less area than his old couch. He
would prefer a couch that is not only wider but also has at least as much area as his old couch.
Galaxian wonders what the length and width of the couch with the largest possible area that fits
around the corner of the two hallways in his house might be.

Question 7 (26 marks)

a. Galaxian decides to investigate the area of couches of different widths by first constructing a
table of values (shown below). He realises that for a given width, a couch will have its largest
area when it has its longest possible length.
Complete the following table, giving all answers correct to three decimal places: 6 marks

w Longest length of couch Largest area of couch

that fits around corner (metres) (square metres)

0.5

0.6

0.7

0.75

0.8

0.9

Question 7 – continued
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b. Galaxian notices from the values in his table that there seems to be a particular width for which
a couch has its maximum largest possible area.
Briefly justify Galaxian’s observation and explain why this happens. 3 marks

Question 7 – continued
TURN OVER
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Galaxian decides to use calculus to try and find the maximum area of the couch that will fit around
the corner of the two hallways in his house.

c. i. Show that
2 cos 3 ( β ) − 3 sin 3 ( β )
w=
4 cos 2 ( β ) − 2

when a couch that fits around the corner of the two hallways in Galaxian’s house has its
longest length. 3 marks

Question 7 – continued
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2 cos 3 ( β ) − 3 sin 3 ( β )
ii. Sketch a graph of w = over an appropriate range. Label all
4 cos 2 ( β ) − 2
endpoints with their coordinates, correct to four decimal places. 3 marks

Question 7 – continued
TURN OVER
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d. i. Show that

( )
19 cos 4 ( β ) − 48 sin( β ) cos 3 ( β ) + 3 18 sin 2 ( β ) − 5 cos 2 ( β )

( )
− 24 sin( β ) 2 sin 2 ( β ) − 1 cos( β ) + 9 sin 4 ( β ) = 0

when the largest area of a couch has its maximum value. 3 marks

Question 7 – continued
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ii. Sketch a graph of the function defined by the left hand side of the equation in part i. above
as a function of β over an appropriate domain. Label all turning points, axis intercepts and
endpoints with their coordinates, correct to four decimal places. 5 marks

19 cos 4 (β ) − 48 sin(β ) cos 3 (β ) + !+ 9 sin 4 (β )

iii. Hence find the maximum area of the couch that will fit around the corner of the two
hallways in Galaxian’s house. 3 marks

END OF QUESTION AND ANSWER BOOK