MAT Syllabus Practice Solutions

James Munro∗

updated July 2020 (first version October 2019)

Polynomials
• Solve x2 − x − 1 = 0
√
1± 5
The quadratic formula gives x = 2 .

• Solve x4 − x2 − 1 = 0
√
1± 5
Write y = x2 to get a quadratic for y. This is the quadratic above for y, so x2 = 2 . But x2 ≥ 0
q √
so x = ± 1+2 5 .

• Write x2 + 4x + 3 in the form (x + a)2 + b

(x + 2)2 − 1
• How many real solutions does x2 + bx + 1 = 0 have? Find the different cases in terms of b.
The discriminant, b2 − 4, is positive if b > 2 or b < −2, negative if −2 < b < 2 and zero if b = ±2.
So there are two real solutions if b > 2 or if b < −2, one real solution if b = ±2 and no real solutions
otherwise.

• Factorise x2 + 4x + 3
(x + 1)(x + 3)
• Let p(x) = x3 − 13x2 − 65x − 51. Check that p(17) = 0. Factorise p(x).


p(17) = 173 − 13 × 172 − 65 × 17 − 51 = 17 172 − 13 × 17 − 65 − 3 = 172 (17 − 13 − 4) = 0.
So (x − 17) is a factor. Polynomial division gives p(x) = (x − 17)(x2 + 4x + 3), so p(x) =
(x − 17)(x + 1)(x + 3).
Algebra
• Solve the simultaneous equations x + y = 1 and x − y = 3.
x = 2 and y = −1.

• For which values of x is it true that x2 + 4x + 3 > 0?

x > −1 or x < −3.
• Expand (2x + 3)3
8x3 + 36x2 + 54x + 27
• I’ve got four playing cards; the ace and king of clubs, and the ace and king of hearts. I shuffle
the cards together and deal them out left to right. What’s the probability that the kings and aces
alternate? (they alternate if they are either arranged as AKAK or KAKA)
There are 24 possible orders for the cards. Eight of these have alternating kings and aces, so the
probability is 1/3.
Differentiation
• Differentiate x17 with respect to x.
17x16
∗ Admissions Coordinator for Maths at Oxford. Comments or corrections should be sent to [email protected]

1
 √
• Differentiate x with respect to x.
1
√
2 x

• Differentiate e3x with respect to x.

3e3x
• Differentiate 2e−x − x2 with respect to x.
−2e−x − 2x

• Find the tangent to the curve y = ex + 1 at x = 2.

y = e2 (x − 2) + e2 + 1
• Find the normal to the parabola y = x2 at x = 3.
y = − 61 (x − 3) + 9

• Find the turning points of the curve y = x4 − 2x3 + x2 . Identify whether the turning points are
maxima or minima.
1
Turning points at x = 0 (minimum), x = 2 (maximum), x = 1 (minimum).
• For which values of x is y = x4 − 2x3 + x2 increasing? For which values of x is it decreasing?
1 1
Increasing for 0 < x < 2 and for 1 < x. Decreasing for x < 0 and for 2 < x < 1.
• Two points A and B are on the curve y = x3 + x2 + x + 1. A is held fixed at (1, 4). The point B
is moved along the curve towards A. What happens to the line through A and B?
The tangent at A is y = 6x − 2. If the line AB has equation y = mx + c say, then m gets closer
and closer to 6 and c gets closer and closer to −2.
Integration
Z
• Suppose that the derivative of a polynomial p(x) with respect to x is q(x). Find q(x) dx.

p(x) + c where c is a constant

• Find the area enclosed by the polynomial x2 + 4x + 3 = 0 and the x-axis.
4
3
Z 1
• Find 1 + x + x2 + x3 + x4 + x5 + x6 dx
−1
R1 1 1 1

352
Note that −1
xa dx = 0 for a odd. The integral is 2 1 + 3 + 5 + 7 = 105 .

Graphs
• Sketch graphs of

y = x2 + 4x + 3, y = x3 + 4x2 + 3x, y = 2x , y = log2 x on separate axes.

4 y 4 y 4 y 4 y
2 2 2 2
x x x x
−4 −2 2 4 −4 −2 2 4 −4 −2 2 4 −4 −2 2 4
−2 −2 −2 −2
−4 −4 −4 −4

• Sketch graphs of y = sin x, y = cos x and y = tan x on the same axes.

2
 2 y

1
x◦
90 180 270 360
−1

−2

Logarithms and powers

• Simplify log 3 + log 4 into a single term.
log 12
• Expand (ex + e−x ) (ex + e−x )
e2x + 2 + e−2x .
• Solve 2x = 3.
x = log2 3
Transformations

• Let f (x) = x2 + 4x + 3. If you didn’t sketch a graph of this before, sketch one now.
• Sketch a graph of y = f (x + 2).
• Sketch a graph of y = 3f (2x).

4 y 4 y 4 y
2 2 2
x x x
−4 −2 2 4 −6 −4 −2 2 −4 −2 2 4
−2 −2 −2
−4 −4 −4

Geometry
   
1 3
• Add the vectors and .
2 −2
 
4
0

• Find the equation of the line through (1, 0) and (0, −1).
y =x−1

• Find the equation of the line through (1, 2) with gradient 3.

y = 3(x − 1) + 2 = 3x − 1
• A circle has centre (−1, 4) and radius 3. Write down an equation for the circle.
(x + 1)2 + (y − 4)2 = 9

• What’s the area of this circle?

9π
• Points A and B lie on a circle with centre O and radius 1. The angle 6 AOB is 120◦ . Find the
length of the arc between A and B. Find the area enclosed by that arc and the radii OA and OB.
It’s a third of a circle, so the arc length is 2π/3 and the area is π/3.

3
Trigonometry
• Solve sin x = 12 .
x = 30◦ + n × 360◦ , or x = 150◦ + n × 360◦ , for any whole number n.

• Solve tan x = 1.
x = 45◦ + n × 180◦ for any whole number n
• Write cos4 x + cos2 x in terms of sin x.
(1 − sin2 x)2 + (1 − sin2 x) = 2 − 3 sin2 x + sin4 x.

• Simplify cos(450◦ − x)
sin x
• A triangle ABC has side lengths AB = 3 and BC = 2, and the angle 6 ABC = 120◦ . Find the
remaining side length AC, the area of the triangle, and an expression for sin 6 BCA.
√ √ √ √
Cosine rule; AC = 19. The area of the triangle is 3 3/2. Sine rule; sin 6 BCA = (3 3/2 19)
Sequences and series
• A sequence is defined by a0 = 1, a1 = 1, a2 = 1, and

an = an−1 + an−2 + an−3 for n ≥ 3.

Find a10 .
a3 = 3, a4 = 5, a5 = 9, a6 = 17, a7 = 31, a8 = 57, a9 = 105, a10 = 193.
• A sequence has first term 3 and each subsequent term is 5 more than the previous term. Find the
sum of the first four terms.
4×3
4×3+ 2 × 5 = 42
• A sequence has first term 4 and each subsequent term is 6 times more than the previous term.
Find the sum of the first four terms.
4
−1
4 1 + 6 + 62 + 63 = 4 66−1 = 4 1295


5 = 4 × 259 = 1036.

• When does the sum 1 + x3 + x6 + x9 + x12 + ... converge? Simplify it in the case that it converges.
Converges when −1 < x < 1. In that case, it converges to 1/(1 − x3 ).