A Level Edexcel Maths 3 hours 32 questions

Exam Questions

Further
Differentiation
Differentiation of Trigonometric Functions from First Principles / Differentiating
Other Functions / Chain Rule / Product Rule / Quotient Rule / Differentiating
Reciprocal and Inverse Trig Functions

Easy (8 questions) /44

Medium (8 questions) /47 Scan here to return to the course

Very Hard (8 questions) /45

Total Marks /176

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Easy Questions
1 (a) Given that f (x ) = x 2

Use differentiation from first principles to show that

⎛ x 2 + 2hx + h 2 − x 2 ⎞⎟
f'(x ) = lim ⎜⎜ ⎟.
h →0 ⎝ h ⎠

(2 marks)

(b) Hence prove that

f'(x ) = 2x .

(3 marks)

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2 (a) A curve has the equation y = 5e −2x .

dy
Find an expression for .
dx

(2 marks)

(b) (i) Find the gradient of the tangent at the point where x = 1 , giving your answer in the
form −ae −2 where a is a positive integer to be found.

(ii) Hence show that the gradient of the normal to the curve at the point where x =1 is
1 2
e .
10

(3 marks)

dy
3 Find for
dx

(i) y = sin ( 3x 2 ) ,

(ii) y = 2ln (x 3 ) .

(4 marks)

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 2 −9
4 The curve with equation y = ex passes through the point with coordinates (-3 , 1).

dy
(i) Find an expression for
dx .

(ii) Find the equation of the tangent to the curve at the point
(-3 , 1).

(4 marks)

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5 (a) Differentiate (x 3 − 2x )ln x with respect to x.

(3 marks)

(b) Differentiate e x cos 2x with respect to x.

(3 marks)

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 cos x
6 (a) Differentiate with respect to x
sin x

(3 marks)

2x 2 − 3x + 4
(b) Differentiate with respect to x .
sin 3x

(3 marks)

dy
7 Write down when
dx

(i) y = sec 5x ,

(ii) y = cosec 3x .

(2 marks)

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8 (a) The function f (x ) is defined as

f (x ) = (x 2 − 4x + 4) ln( x ) , x >0

Show that the graph of y = f (x ) intercepts the x-axis at the points (1 , 0) and (2 , 0).

(4 marks)

(b) Find f'(x ) .

(4 marks)

(c) Find the gradient of the tangent at the point (1 , 0).

(2 marks)

(d) Hence find the equation of the tangent at the point (1 , 0), giving your answer in the
form ax + by + c = 0, where a, b and c are integers to be found.

(2 marks)

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Medium Questions
1 (a) Given that f (x ) = sin x

Show that

⎛ ⎛⎜ cos h − 1 ⎞⎟ ⎛⎜ sin h ⎞⎟ ⎞⎟
f'(x ) = lim ⎜⎜sin x ⎜ ⎟ + cos x ⎜ ⎟⎟
h →0 ⎝ ⎝ h ⎠ ⎝ h ⎠⎠

(4 marks)

(b) Hence prove that f'(x ) = cos x .

(3 marks)

2 A curve has the equation y = e −3x + ln x , x > 0 .

Find the gradient of the normal to the curve at the point (1, e −3) , giving your answer
correct to 3 decimal places.

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 (4 marks)

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 dy
3 (a) Find for each of the following:
dx

y = cos( x 2 − 3x + 7) + sin ( e x )

(4 marks)

dy
(b) Find for each of the following:
dx

y = ln (2x 3)

(3 marks)

2
4 Find the equation of the tangent to the curvey = e 3x + 5x − 2 at the point (−2, 1) ,
giving your answer in the form ax + by + c = 0 , where a, b and c are integers.

(4 marks)

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5 (a) Differentiate with respect to x, simplifying your answers as far as possible:

(4cos x − 3sin x ) e 3x −5

(3 marks)

(b) (x 3 − 4x 2 + 7) ln x

(3 marks)

5x 7
6 Differentiate with respect to x.
sin 2x

(4 marks)

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7 (a) Show that if y = cosec2x , then

dy
= − 2cosec 2x cot 2x
dx

(5 marks)

(b) Hence find the gradient of the tangent to the curve y = cosec 2x at the point with
⎛⎜ π 2 3 ⎞⎟
coordinates ⎜⎜ , ⎟⎟
⎝3 3 ⎠

(1 mark)

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8 (a) The diagram below shows part of the graph of y = f (x ) , where f (x ) is the function
defined by

f (x ) = (x 2 − 1) ln(x + 3) , x > −3

Points A, B and C are the three places where the graph intercepts the x-axis.

Find f'(x ) .

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 (4 marks)

(b) Show that the coordinates of point A are (-2, 0).

(2 marks)

(c) Find the equation of the tangent to the curve at point A.

(3 marks)

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Hard Questions
1 Show from first principles that the derivative of cos x is −sin x .

(7 marks)

2 A curve has the equation y = e −3x + ln x , x > 0 .

Show that the equation of the tangent to the curve at the point with x-coordinate 1 is

⎛⎜ e 3 − 3 ⎞⎟ 4 − e3
y=⎜ 3 ⎟x +
⎝ e ⎠ e3

(6 marks)

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3 For y = ln ( ax n ) , where a > 0 is a real number and n ≥ 1 is an integer, show that

dy n
=
dx x

(3 marks)

π
4 Find the gradient of the normal to the curve y = 5cos ( e x − ) at the point with x-
2
coordinate 0. Give your answer correct to 3 decimal places.

(4 marks)

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5 (a) Differentiate with respect to x, simplifying your answers as far as possible:

(2sin 3x − cos 3x ) e 6 − x

(3 marks)

(b) (x 2 − x ) 2 ln 5x

(3 marks)

f (x )
6 By writing y= as y = f (x ) ⎢⎣ g(x) ⎥⎦ −1 and then using the product and chain rules,
⎡ ⎤
g(x )
show that

dy g(x ) f'(x ) − f (x ) g'(x )

(3 marks)

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7 (a) Given that x = sec 7y ,

dy
Find in terms of y
dx

(2 marks)

dy
(b) Hence find in terms of x.
dx

(4 marks)

8 The diagram below shows part of the graph of y = f (x ) , where f (x ) is the function
defined by

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 sin x
f (x ) = , x >0
1 − ex

Point A is a maximum point on the graph.

Show that the x-coordinate of A is a solution to the equation

cos x + e x (sin x − cos x )

(5 marks)

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Very Hard Questions
1 Show from first principles that the derivative of tan 3x is 3sec23x .

(9 marks)

2 A curve has the equation y = 3x + 2−x .

⎛⎜ 7 ⎞⎟
Show that the gradient of the normal to the curve at the point ⎜1, ⎟ is
⎝ 2 ⎠

2
ln 2 − 6ln 3

(4 marks)

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 ⎛ ⎛ 1 ⎞⎞
3 Find the derivative of the function f (x ) = sin ⎜⎜ cos ⎜⎜ ln ⎟⎟ ⎟⎟ , x > 0 .
⎝ ⎝ x ⎠⎠

(4 marks)

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 4
4 (a) Show that the derivative y = 4−x is

dy 4
= − ( ln 4) x 341 − x
dx

(4 marks)

⎛⎜ 1 ⎞⎟
(b) Hence find the equation of the tangent to the curve at the point ⎜ 1, ⎟ , giving your
⎝ 4 ⎠
answer in the form y = ax + b , where a and b are to be given as exact values.

(2 marks)

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5 (a) Differentiate with respect to x, simplifying your answers where possible:

2 − 3x + 2
(5 + sin2 3x ) e x

(3 marks)

⎛⎜ 1 ⎞⎟
(b) 3 x ⎜⎜ x − ⎟⎟
⎝ x ⎠

(3 marks)

6 The diagram below shows the graph of y = f (x ) , where f (x ) is the function defined by

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 sin 3x 2π
f (x ) = , 0 ≤x ≤
e 2x − 3 3

The points A and B are maximum and minimum points, respectively.

Find the range of f (x ) , giving your answer correct to 3 decimal places.

(6 marks)

7 A is the point on the graph ofy = arctan x such that the tangent to the graph at A
⎛ 1 ⎞⎟
passes through the point ⎜⎜0, ⎟.
⎝ 2⎠

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 Show that the x-coordinate of A satisfies the equation

⎛ (1 + x ) 2 ⎞⎟
x − tan ⎜⎜ ⎟=0
⎝ 2(1 + x 2) ⎠

(5 marks)

8 A sequence of functions is defined by the recurrence relation

d
u k + 1 (x ) = u (x ) , u 1 (x ) = sin (x 2 )
dx k

Based on that sequence, the function f n (x ) is defined by

n
f n (x ) = ∑ u r (x )
r =1

⎛⎜ π 2 ⎞⎟
Calculate the value of f 41 ⎜⎜ ⎟⎟
⎝ 4 ⎠

(5 marks)

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