1

Exercise 1:
A sequence is defined by
{
where nN.
(i)
(ii)

Write down the first four terms of the sequence.

What can we say about this sequence?

Another sequence is defined by

,
where R .
(iii)
Find the value of for which vn is a geometric sequence.
(iv)
Express vn and un in terms of n.

(v)
Calculate
and
.
*

Exercise 2:
Given
(i)
(ii)
(iii)

.
Show that
provided that x 1.
State a condition necessary to ensure that Sn tends to a finite limit as n + , and state the
value of this limit (S).
The value of Sn is to be approximated by S. Show that, assuming x is positive, the error in
this approximation is

(iv)

Deduce that, if this error is less than k, n must exceed

)
( )

Exercise 3:
The population of a colony of insects increases in such a way that if it is N at the beginning of a
week, then at the end of the week it is a + bN, where a,bR*+ and 0 < b < 1.
(i)

(ii)

Starting from the beginning of the week when the population is N, show that at the end of c
consecutive weeks the population is:
(
)
.
When a = 2000 and b = 0.2, it is known that the population takes about 4 weeks to increase
from N to 2N. Estimate a value for N from this information.

Exercise 4:
We consider a pillar drill that has 6 different sized pulleys. These pulleys operate from a motor
running at a constant speed. The largest pulley rotates at 30 rpm and the smallest at 200 rpm. Given
that the speeds are arranged according to an arithmetic progression, calculate the speeds of the 4
remaining pulleys.

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Exercise 5:
A sequence is defined by
(

{
where nN.
(i)
(ii)
(iii)
(iv)

Write down the first four terms of the sequence. Give the answers to 6 decimal places.
Given that the iteration converges, find and simplify an equation in x whose real root is
approximated by this iteration.
Find the exact value of this root.
Find the absolute errors e1, e2, e3 in the first three approximations x1, x2, x3, giving your
answers to 6 decimal places.

Exercise 6:
(i)

(ii)

Show that, the equation of a tangent to a curve having equation y = f(x) at x = x0, is given by:
y = f /(x0)(x x0) + f(x0),
where f/(x0) represents the derivative of the function( f ) at x0.
This tangent cuts the x-axis at x1. Find the value of x1 in terms of x0.