A.

Let
f (x) = 2x3 − kx2 + 2x − k.
For what values of the real number k does the graph y = f (x) have two distinct real
stationary points?
√ √
(a) −2 3 <√k < 2 √3
(b) k < −2 √ 3 or 2 3√< k
(c) k<√ − 21 − 3 or √ 21 − 3 < k
(d) − 21 − 3 < k < 21 − 3
(e) all values of k.

B. The minimum value achieved by the function

f (x) = 9 cos4 x − 12 cos2 x + 7

equals
(a) 3 (b) 4 (c) 5 (d) 6 (e) 7.

Turn over

3
C. A sequence (an ) has the property that
an
an+1 =
an−1
for every n > 2. Given that a1 = 2 and a2 = 6, what is a2017 ?
1 1 1
(a) (b) (c) (d) 2 (e) 3.
6 3 2

D. The diagram below shows the graph of y = f (x).

y

x
−4 −2 2 4

−5

The graph of the function y = −f (−x) is drawn in which of the following diagrams?
y y y

5 5 5

x x x
−4 −2 2 4 −4 −2 2 4 −4 −2 2 4

−5 −5 −5

(a) (b) (c)

y y

5 5

x x
−4 −2 2 4 −4 −2 2 4

−5 −5

(d) (e)

4
E. Let a and b be positive integers such that a + b = 20. What is the maximum value
that a2 b can take?

(a) 1000 (b) 1152 (c) 1176 (d) 1183 (e) 1196.

F. The picture below shows the unit circle, where each point has coordinates (cos x, sin x)
for some x. Which of the marked arcs corresponds to

tan x < cos x < sin x ?

sin x

C B

A
cos x
D

(a) A (b) B (c) C (d) D (e) E.

Turn over

5
G. For all θ in the range 0 6 θ < 2π the line

(y − 1) cos θ = (x + 1) sin θ

divides the disc x2 + y 2 6 4 into two regions. Let A(θ) denote the area of the larger
region.

Then A(θ) achieves its maximum value at

(a) one value of θ (b) two values of θ (c) three values of θ

(d) four values of θ (e) all values of θ.

H. In this question a and b are real numbers, and a is non-zero.

When the polynomial x2 − 2ax + a4 is divided by x + b the remainder is 1.
The polynomial bx2 + x + 1 has ax − 1 as a factor.

It follows that b equals

(a) 1 only (b) 0 or − 2 (c) 1 or 2 (d) 1 or 3 (e) − 1 or 2.

6
I. Let a, b, c > 0 and a 6= 1. The equation
 x  
x x c 1
logb ((b ) ) + loga x + loga loga (c) = 0
b b

has a repeated root when

1 b 1
(a) b2 = 4ac (b) b = (c) c = (d) c = (e) a = b = c.
a a b

J. Which of these integrals has the largest value? You are not expected to calculate the
exact value of any of these.
Z 2 Z 2π Z π
2 8 3
(a) (x − 4) sin (πx) dx (b) (2 + cos x) dx (c) sin100 x dx
Z0 π Z 8π 0 0

(d) (3 − sin x)6 dx (e) 108(sin3 x − 1) dx.

0 0

Turn over

7
2. For ALL APPLICANTS.

There is a unique real number α that satisfies the equation

α3 + α2 = 1.

[You are not asked to prove this.]

(i) Show that 0 < α < 1.

(ii) Show that

α4 = −1 + α + α2 .
(iii) Four functions of α are given in (a) to (d) below. In a similar manner to part (ii),
each is equal to a quadratic expression

A + Bα + Cα2

in α, where A, B, C are integers. (So in (ii) we found A = −1, B = 1, C = 1.) You may
assume in each case that the quadratic expression is unique.

In each case below find the quadratic expression in α.

(a) α−1 .

(b) The infinite sum

1 − α + α2 − α3 + α4 − α5 + · · · .

(c) (1 − α)−1 .

(d) The infinite product

(1 + α)(1 + α2 )(1 + α4 )(1 + α8 )(1 + α16 ) · · · .

8
3.  

 MATHEMATICS 

MATHEMATICS & STATISTICS
 
For APPLICANTS IN ONLY.

 MATHEMATICS & PHILOSOPHY 

MATHEMATICS & COMPUTER SCIENCE
 

Computer Science and Computer Science & Philosophy applicants should turn to
page 14.

For each positive integer k, let fk (x) = x1/k for x > 0.

(i) On the same axes (provided below), labelling each curve clearly, sketch y = fk (x) for
k = 1, 2, 3, indicating the intersection points.

(ii) Between the two points of intersection in (i), the curves y = fk (x) enclose several
regions. What is the area of the region between y = fk (x) and y = fk+1 (x)? Verify that
the area of the region between y = f1 (x) and y = f2 (x) is 16 .

Let c be a constant where 0 < c < 1.

(iii) Find the x-coordinates of the points of intersection of the line y = c with y = f1 (x)
and of y = c with y = f2 (x).

(iv) The constant c is chosen so that the line y = c divides the region between y = f1 (x)
and y = f2 (x) into two regions of equal area. Show that c satisfies the cubic equation
4c3 − 6c2 + 1 = 0. Hence find c.

y
1.5

1.25

0.75

0.5

0.25

x
0.25 0.5 0.75 1 1.25 1.5

10
4.  
 MATHEMATICS 
For APPLICANTS IN MATHEMATICS & STATISTICS ONLY.
MATHEMATICS & PHILOSOPHY
 
Mathematics & Computer Science, Computer Science and Computer Science & Philos-
ophy applicants should turn to page 14.

A horse is attached by a rope to the corner of a square field of side length 1.

(i) What length of rope allows the horse to reach precisely half the area of the field?

Another horse is placed in the field, attached to the corner diagonally opposite from the
first horse. Each horse has a length of rope such that each can reach half the field.

(ii) Explain why the area that both can reach is the same as the area neither can reach.

√ 
(iii) The angle α is marked in the diagram above. Show that α = cos−1 2π and hence
√  q
−1 π
4
show that the area neither can reach is π cos 2
− 4−ππ
. Note that cos−1 can also
be written as arccos.

A third horse is placed in the field, and the three horses are rearranged. One horse is
now attached to the midpoint of the bottom side of the field, and another horse is now
attached to the midpoint of the left side of the field. The third horse is attached to the
upper right corner.

(iv) Given each horse can access an equal area of the field and that none of the areas
overlap, what length of rope must each horse have to minimise the area that no horse
can reach?

The horses on the bottom and left midpoints of the field are each replaced by a goat;
each goat is attached by a rope of length g to the same midpoint as in part (iii). The
remaining horse is attached to the upper right corner with rope length h.

(v)
√
Given that 0 6 h 6 1, and that none of the animals’ areas can overlap, show that
5−2
2
6 g 6 2√1 2 holds if the area that the animals can reach is maximised.

12
5. For ALL APPLICANTS.

Ten children, c0 , c1 , c2 , . . . , c9 , are seated clockwise in a circle. The teacher walks clock-
wise behind the children with a large bag of sweets. She gives a sweet to child c1 . She
then skips a child and gives a sweet to the next child, c3 . Next she skips two children
and gives a sweet to the next child, c6 . She continues in this way, at each stage skipping
one more child than at the preceding stage before giving a sweet to the next child.

(i) The kth sweet is given to child ci . Explain why i is the last digit of the number

k(k + 1)
.
2
(ii) Let 1 6 k 6 18. Explain why the kth and (20 − k − 1)th sweets are given to the
same child.

(iii) Explain why the kth sweet is given to the same child as the (k + 20)th sweet.

(iv) Which children can never receive any sweets?

When the teacher has given out all the sweets, she has walked exactly 183 times round
the circle, and given the last sweet to c0 .

(v) How many sweets were there initially?

(vi) Which children received the most sweets and how many did they receive?

14