Algebraic Methods – Test A (40 mins) Fundamentals Challenge Expert

Subtopics: Proof by contradiction, algebraic fractions, partial fractions, repeated factors, algebraic division

1. Express each of the following as a single fraction in its simplest form:

2x x y ( y  3) x ( x + 3) x
 
b) y ( y  6) x( x  2) c) y ( y  1) y ( y  2)
2
a) x y [5]

2. Express each of the following as a single fraction in its simplest form:

3 x 1 2 1 3b  4 2
  2 
b) a  2a  3 a  5a  6 c) b  b  12 b  4
2 2
a) 4 x 2 x [10]

3x  2
Express x  4 as partial fractions.
2
3. [5]

4. Prove by contradiction that 2 is an irrational number. [5]

( x  3)( x  1) ( x  5)( x  1) ( x  a)2


5. Show that x( x  5) ( x  4)(2 x  6) can be written in the form bx( x  c) where a, b and c are
constants to be found. [3]

6. Show that:
2 x 2  3x  2 x 2  6 x  5 x 2  3x  2
 2 
a) x5 2 x  5x  3 x3 [4]
x5 x  8 x  15
2
1
  2
b) x  6x  8
2
x2 x  x  12 [3]

1 2 3 2(4 x  a)( x  b)
  ,
7. Show that x  4 5 x x  2 can be written in the form 5 x ( x  4)( x  2) where a and b are
constants to be found. [5]

5 x 2  4 x  12 A B C
 
8. Show that x ( x  1)( x  2) can be written in the form x x  1 x  2 where A, B and C are constants
to be found. [5]

8 x 2  10 x  15
Express (2 x  1)( x  2) as partial fractions.
2
9. [5]

x3  8
10. Write the algebraic fraction x  2 in the form ax  bx  c where a, b and c are constants to be
2

found. [4]

TOTAL 54 MARKS

Test 1.3a – Algebraic Methods Page 1 of 1 © ZigZag Education, 2018