NATIONAL JUNIOR COLLEGE

SENIOR HIGH 2 PRELIMINARY EXAMINATION

Higher 3

MATHEMATICS 9820/01

Paper 1 17 September 2021

3 hours

Additional Materials: Answer Booklet

List of Formulae (MF26)

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1 Let S be a set containing n  2 integers. By considering the pigeonhole principle, show

that there are two elements in the set S whose difference is a multiple of 2n or there are
two elements in the set S whose sum is divisible by 2n. [5]

2 (i) Given integers a, b and m such that gcd  b, m   1 , show that the m numbers

a, a  b, a  2b, ..., a   m  1 b

are all incongruent modulo m. [2]

(ii) Let n  2 . Prove that if all the n terms of the arithmetic progression
p, p  d , p  2d , ..., p   n  1 d

are primes, then the common difference d is divisible by every prime smaller than
n. [4]

3 Prove that a 2  b2  c 2  ab  bc  ca for any real numbers a, b and c. [3]

Hence prove that for any positive real numbers x, y and z satisfying
xy  yz  zx  x  y  z  S ,
(i) S  3 , and [2]
1 1 1
(ii)  2  2 1. [4]
x  y 1 y  z 1 z  x 1
2

4 (a) Show that the sequence

99, 999, 9999, 99999, …
does not contain a number which is a sum of two squares. [2]
(b) Dirichlet’s Theorem states the following:
If a and b are coprime positive integers, then the arithmetic progression
a, a  b, a  2b, a  3b, ...
contains infinitely many primes.
(i) Show that for any positive integer n, there exists a prime ending with n
consecutive 9’s. [3]
(ii) Prove that the arithmetic progression above contains infinitely many
composite numbers for any pair of coprime positive integers a and b. [4]

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5 Use the substitution u 2  tan x to find

 tan x dx,

showing all your working clearly. Express all values in exact form. [11]

x  14 Ax  B C
6 (a) Show that can be expressed as  , where
 x  1 x  2  x  4   x  1 x  2  x  4
A , B and C are constants to be determined. [2]
p  x
(b) Let be a rational function such that the degree of the numerator p  x  is less
q  x

than the degree of the denominator q  x  . uurthermore, assume that

q  x    x  x1  x  x2   x  xn  , where xi are all distinct. Show, by

p  x
mathematical induction, that for any n  1 , can be written in the form
q  x
n
ci
 xx
i 1 i

for suitable constants ci . [8]

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7 In basketball, any single shot is worth either one, two or three points. Mid-way through
a basketball game, the scoreboard shows 6 points.
(a) uind the number of ways to score 6 points in basketball if we are interested in the
order of each type of shot made. [2]
Suppose that now we want to count the number of ways to score 6 points but we are only
interested in the number of each type of shot made and not the order in which they were
made. The following approach will help with the counting systematically. In scoring 6
points, the contribution from one-point shots to that score is
0 point  1 point  2 points  3 points  4 points  5 points  6 points,
where  means the exclusive-or.
We symbolise this algebraically as
x0  x1  x 2  x3  x 4  x5  x 6 ---- (1),
where  signs have been replaced by ordinary addition and where the total contribution
appears in the exponents.
Similarly, we can algebraically symbolise the contribution from two-point shots and
three-point shots to the score of 6 points respectively as
x 0  x 2  x 4  x 6 --- (2) and x0  x3  x6 --- (3) .
Proceed to multiply the expressions in (1), (2) and (3) to each other. This product is called
a generating function. Lastly, identify the required coefficient of x r , where 0  r  18 ,
which in this case, is the coefficient of x 6 .
You may consider using the above approach to answer the following questions.
(b) Suppose that we are only interested in the number of each type of shot made and not
the order,
(i) find the number of ways to score 6 points. [1]
(ii) write down the generating function to find the number of ways to score
10 points. [2]
(c) (i) uind the coefficient of x 24 in the product

1  x 1  x 1  x 1  x 1  x 1  x 1  x 1  x  .

2 3 5 7 11 13 17 19
[1]

(ii) Interpret the answer in part (c) (i) in terms of the partitions of 24. [2]

(d) (i)    
Given that 1  x  1  x 2 1  x 4 1  x8 ...  P  x  where P  x  is a power

series, find P  x  . [1]

(ii) What does the equation in part (d) (i) say about all positive integers? [2]

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8 The uundamental Theorem of Algebra states that every polynomial function p  x  of

degree n can be expressed as a product of linear factors

p( x)   x  1  x   2   x  n  ,
where 1 ,  2 , ,  n are the roots of p  x   0 in , not necessarily all distinct.

Subject to certain conditions, this result can be extended to non-polynomial functions. In

particular,

 x 
sin x  x 1  ,
k ,  k 
k 0

where  k ’s are the roots of the equation sin x  0, and u k denotes the product of the

terms u1 , u2 , , un , of a sequence.

(i) State an expression for  k in exact form. [1]

sin x 
 x2 
(ii) Express
x
in the form  1  , showing your working clearly.
k 1  k 
[2]

sin x
(iii) By considering the coefficient of a suitable term in the expansion of , find
x

1
exactly the value of n
n 1
2
. [3]

1
(iv) Obtain a formula for n
n 1
2m
in terms of m for any positive integer m. [3]


1
Prove that if p  1, then the series n
n 1
p converges. [3]

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9 A cow produces one calf every year. Beginning in its fourth year, each calf produces one
calf at the beginning of each year. Let g n be the number of calves born in the n th year.

It is given that g1  g2  g3  1 .

(i) Explain why gn  gn1  gn3 for n  4. [3]

(ii) uind g10 . [3]

An ordered composition of a positive integer n is a sequence  a1 , a2 , a3 , ..., ak  of

positive integers such that a i  n . uor example, all ordered compositions of 4 are
 4  ,  3,1 ,  2, 2  , 1,3 ,  2,1,1 , 1, 2,1 , 1,1, 2  and 1,1,1,1 .

Given that n  , we let hn be the number of ordered compositions of n, consisting of

positive integers 3 or 1 (or both). It is given that h1  1 .

(iii) uind h2 and h3 . [2]

(iv) Explain why hn  hn 1  hn 3 for n  4 . [2]

 p  p
(v) Express h2n as a sum of   , where   counts the number of ways to choose q
q q
objects from p distinct objects. [3]

10 A lattice point is a point in a Cartesian coordinate system such that both its x- and y-
coordinates are integers.
Pick’s Theorem
Suppose that all the vertices of a polygon are lattice points, then the area, A, of the
polygon can be expressed as
B
A  I  1,
2
where I is the number of lattice points that are interior to the polygon and B is the
number of lattice points on its boundary.

Prove Pick’s Theorem when the polygon is

(i) any rectangle with all the sides parallel to axes, [4]

(ii) any right-angled triangle with two of its sides parallel to the x- and y-axes
respectively, [3]

(iii) any triangle. [3]

Hence, prove Pick’s Theorem for any n-sided polygon. [4]

End of paper

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