Maths 5starstar Essential A Level Questions

Math 5** Essential A level questions

Number and Algebra Strand
Chapter 1: Quadratic equations in one unknown
1.0 Linear equations
1.0C Method of substitution

HKCEE Additional Mathematics 95p2:2(a)
2. A family of straight lines is given by the equation
2x  3y + 4 + k(4x + 2y  1) = 0,
where k is any constant.
(a) Find the equation of the line in the family which passes through the point (1, 0).
HKCEE Additional Mathematics 98p2:11(a)(i)

11.
y
L2
S(a, b) E
L1
x
O
S(a, b) is a point on the second quadrant (i.e., a < 0 < b) and lies on the ellipse
x2 y2
E: + = 1 as shown in Figure 3(a). L1 and L2 are the tangent and normal to E at
4 3
point S respectively. Let m1 and m2 be the slopes of L1 and L2 respectively.
(a) (i) Show that 3a2 + 4b2 = 12.
1
HKCEE Additional Mathematics 07:9(a)

9.
5m 5m
ym
A B
xm
Two rods HA and HB, each of length 5 m, are hinged at H. The rods slide such that
A, B, H are on the same vertical plane and A, B move in opposite directions on the
horizontal floor, as shown in Figure 3. Let AB be x m and the distance of H from
the floor be y m.
(a) Write down an equation connecting x and y.
HKASL MATHEMATICS AND STATISTICS 95:9(a)

9. A local engineering company estimates that if the loudness of the noise released from the
Hong Kong Stadium is to be reduced by x%, the cost C1(x), in thousand dollars, will be
800 x
C1(x) = , 0  x < 100.
100  x
(a) (i) If the loudness of the noise released from the Stadium is to be reduced by 80%,
find the cost required.
(ii) If the Urban Council spends 2 million dollars for the work, by what percentage
can the loudness of the noise released from the Stadium be reduced?
(3 marks)
6. Mr. Chan has 6 cups of ice-cream in his refrigerator. There are 5 different flavours as listed:
1 cup of chocolate,
1 cup of mango,
1 cup of peach,
1 cup of strawberry and
2 cups of vanilla.
Mr. Chan randomly chooses 3 cups of the ice-cream. Find the probability that
(a) there is no vanilla flavour ice-cream,
(b) there is exactly, 1 cup of vanilla flavour ice-cream.
(5 martks)
2
HKASL MATHEMATICS AND STATISTICS 02:10(a)(i)

ax  b
10. Let f(x) = and g(x) =  (x  3)(x + 1)3, where a, b and c are constants. It is known that
cx  1
f(0) = g(0), f(3) = g(3) and f(2) = g(2).
(a) (i) Find the values of a, b and c.

1. It is given that
r
 x x x2
1   =1+  + terms involving higher powers of x,
 a 24 576
where r is a rational number and a is a non-zero integer.

(a) Find the values of r and a.
HKAL Applied Mathematics 04p2:2(a)

2. Consider the function f(x) which satisfies f(2) = 9, f(3) = 10 and f(6) = 1. Let p(x) be the
quadratic polynomial which equals f(x) at x = 2, 3 and 6.
(a) Find p(x).
HKAL Applied Mathematics 06p2:7(a)(i)

7. (a) Let f(x) be a three times differentiable function for 0  x  2 and p(x) be the quadratic
polynomial which equals f(x) at x = 0, 1 and 2.
(i) Find p(x) in terms of f(0), f(1), f(2) and x.

1. Consider the cubic polynomial f(x) which satisfies f(2) = 15, f(1) = 5, f(1) = 3 and
f(2) = 13.
(a) Find f(x).

x 1
4. Let f(x) = + 2 , consider the iteration formula
2 x
xn + 1 = f(x n ), where n = 0, 1, 2, …
(a) Let x o = 1.3. Find x k for k = 1, 2 and 3.
HKAL Pure Mathematics 10p1:2(a)

x
2. (a) Resolve into partial fractions.
( x  1)( x 2  4)
2
3
2. Let n be a positive integer. Denote the coefficient of xk in the expansion of (3 + x)n by ak.
Find
n
(a) a
k 0
k .
HKAL Pure Mathematics 12p1:1(a)(i)

n
1. Let (2  x)n =  a k x k , where n   .
k 0
(a) Prove that

n
(i) a
k 0
k = 1.

8. It is given that f:    satisfies the following conditions:
(1) f(x + y) = f(x)f(y)  f(x)  f(y) + 2 for all x, y  
(2) there existis a unique real number r such that f(r) = 2.
(a) Prove that f(0) = 2.
4
1.1 Solve quadratic equations by the factor method

2
5. The curve (x  2)(y + 3) = 8 cuts the y-axis at two points. Find
(a) the coordinates of the two points;
HKCEE Additional Mathematics 98p1:3
3. The quadratic equations x2  6x + 2k = 0 and x2  5x + k = 0 have a common rootα.

(i.e.αis a root of both equations.)
Show thatα= k and hence find the value(s) of k.
(4 marks)
HKCEE Additional Mathematics 05:7

2
7. Solve |x  x | = 4x.
(5 marks)

6. Solve x |x| + 5x + 6 = 0.
(4 marks)
5
1.4 Solve quadratic equations by the quadratic formula

11. (a) Consider the equation
x4 = ax2 + bx + c ………… (*),
where a, b and c are real numbers.
(i) Suppose b = 0. Solve (*).
6
1.5 Understand the relations between the discriminant of a quadratic equation

and the nature of its roots

1. Find the range of values of k for which the equation
2x2 + x + 5 = k(x + 1)2
has no real roots.
(5 marks)

2
7. (a) In the equation ax + bx + c = 0, a, b and c are complex numbers and a  0.
(i) By the method of completing the square, factorize the expression ax2 + bx + c.
(ii) Show that if a, b and c are real numbers such that b2  4ac < 0, then the given
equation has imaginary roots.
(iii) Show that if a = 3i, b = 2 and c = 5i, then b2  4ac > 0, but the equation still has
imaginary roots.
(9 marks)

3. If θ is an obtuse angle and the equation in x
3x2  (4cosθ)x + 2sinθ= 0
has equal roots, find the value of θ.
(5 marks)

2
5. The equation x + 4x + p = 0, where p is a real constant, has distinct real roots α and β.
(a) Find the range of values of p.

7. p, q and k are real numbers satisfying the following conditions:
 p  q  k  2,

 pq  qk  kp  1.
(a) Express pq in terms of k.
(b) Find a quadratic equation, with coefficients in terms of k, whose roots are p and q.
Hence find the range of possible values of k.
(7 marks)
7

6. α and β are the real roots of the equation
x2 + (k  2)x  (k  1) = 0.
If |α| = |β|, find k.
(6 marks)
HKCEE Additional Mathematics 94p1:8(a)(b)

2
8. Let f(x) = x [x + kx + (2k  3)], where k is a real number. It is given that the equation
f(x) = 0 has one real and two imaginary roots.
(a) Find the real root of f(x) = 0.
(1 mark)
(b) Show that 2 < k < 6.
(4 marks)

x  2x  8
2
9. Let p = ….. (*),
x2
where x is real. By expressing (*) in the form ax 2 + bx + c = 0, find the range of
x2  2x  8
possible values of .
x2
x2  2x  8
Hence find the range of possible values of .
x2
(6 marks)
HKAL Pure Mathematics 96p1:3(a)(b)

3. Consider the equation
z 3  az 2 + az  1 = 0 ………… (*)
where a is real.
(a) Find a real root of (*).
(b) Find the range of values of a such that (*) hasw non-real roots.
8
1.6 Solve problems involving quadratic equations

12.
12 cm
8 cm 8 cm
PICTURE y cm
13 cm
x cm
Figure 3
Figure 3 shows a rectangular picture of area A cm2 mounted on a rectangular piece of
cardboard of area 3600 cm2 with sides of length x cm and y cm. The top, bottom and side
margins are 12 cm, 13 cm and 8 cm wide respectively.
(a) Find A in terms of x.
(2 marks)
9
1.7 Understand the relations between the roots and coefficients and form
quadratic equations using these relations

10. Let α, β be the roots of
x2  2x  1 = 0,
where α > β. Fir any positive integer n, let
1
Un = ( αn  βn),
2 2
1
Vn = ( αn + βn).
2 2
(a) Show that
Un + 2 = 2Un + 1 + Un,
Vn + 2 = 2Vn + 1 + Vn,
(b) (i) Find U1 and U2.
(ii) Suppose Un and Un + 1 are integers, deduce that Un + 2 is also an integer.
(iii) Is Un an integer for all positive integers n ?
Give reasons.
(c) Is Vn an integer for all positive integers n ?
Give reasons.

5. If sinθ and cosθ (0° < θ < 90°) are the roots of the equation
2x2  hx + 1 = 0,
find the value of h, leaving your answer in surd form.
(6 marks)

5. Let α and β be the roots of the equation
x2  2x  (m2  m + 1) = 0,
where m is a real number.
(a) Show that (α  β)2 > 0 for any value of m.
(b) Find the minimum value of |α  β|.
(7 marks)
10

y2
11. The line y = 2x + c cuts the ellipse x2 + = 1 at the two points P(x1, y1) and Q(x2, y2).
16
(a) (i) Show that PQ = 5 |x1  x2|.
(ii) Show that x1 and x2 are the roots of the equation
20x2 + 4cx + (c2  16) = 0.
(iii) Determine the two values of c such that the length of the chord PQ is 2 2 .
(11 marks)

11. It is given that the equation
z2  2z + k = 0 (k is real) ……… (*)
has no real roots.
(a) Find the range of values of k.
(2 marks)
(b) Find the quadratic equation whose roots are the cubes of the roots of (*) and show that
the discriminant of this equation is 4(1  k)(4  k)2.
If this equation has real roots, deduce the value of k.
(11 marks)
HKCEE Additional Mathematics 89p1:11(a)(b)(c)(d)

11. (a) Let α, β be the roots of the equation
x2 + px + q = 0 ……… (*),
where p and q are real constants.
Find, in terms of p and q,
(i) α2 + β2,
(ii) α3 + β3,
(iii) (α2  β  1)(β2  α  1).
(6 marks)
(b) If the square of one root of (*) minus the other root equals 1, use (a), or otherwise, to
show that
q2  3(p  1)q + (p  1)2 (p + 1) = 0 ……… (**)
(3 marks)
(c) Find the range of values of p such that the quadratic equation (**) in q has real roots.
(4 marks)
2
(d) Suppose k is a real constant. If the square of one root of 4x + 5x + k = 0 minus the
other root equals 1, use the result of (b), or otherwise, to find the value of k.
(3 marks)
HKCEE Additional Mathematics 90p1:4,
11
4. α, β are the roots of the quadratic equation x2  (k + 2)x + k = 0.

(a) Find α + β be and αβ be in terms of k.
(b) If (α+ 1)(β+ 2) = 4, show that α= 2k.
Hence find the two values of k.
(6 marks)

3. α, β are the roots of the equation x2 + px + q = 0 and α+ 3, β+ 3 are roots of the
equation x2 + qx + p = 0. Find the values of p and q.
(6 marks)
12

1
10. C is the curve y = [2x2 + (k + 7)x + 4], where k is a real number not equal to 1.
k 1
(a) If C cuts the x-axis at two points P and Q and PQ = 1, find the value(s) of k.
(6 marks)

2. α, β are the roots of the quadratic equation x2  2x + 7 = 0.
Find the quadratic equation whose roots are α+ 2 and β+ 2.
(4 marks)

7. α and β are the roots of the quadratic equation
x2 + (p  2)x + p = 0,
where p is real.
(a) Express α + β be and αβ be in terms of p.
(b) If α and β are real such that α2 +β2 = 11, find the value(s) of p.
(7 marks)

3. α and β are the roots of the quadratic equation x2  5x + k = 0 such that
|α  β| = 3. Find the value of k.
(4 marks)

10. Let α and β be the roots of the quadratic equation x2 + (k + 2)x + k = 0, where k is real.
(a) Prove that α and β are real and distinct.
(b) If α = |β|, find the values of β.
(7 marks)
13
1.9 Perform addition, subtraction, multiplication and division of complex

numbers

5
3. Let z = (1  2i) .
(a) Using the binomial theorem, express z in the form a + bi, where a, b are real.
1
(b) Find the real part of .
z
1
Hence write down the real part of z + , correct to the nearest integer.
z
(6 marks)

10. (a) Let z = cosθ + i sinθ, where θ is not a multiple of π.
1
If z2  2 z + is real, find the two values of z.
z
(9 marks)
(b) Let z1 and z2 be the two values of z obtained in (a).
(i) Show that z12 = z2 and z22 = z1.
(ii) Find the values of z13 and z23.
(iii) Find the values of z1k + z2k when
(1) k = 3n,
(2) k = 3n + 1,
(3) k = 3n + 2,
where n is a positive integer.
(iv) For any positive integer k, show that
2 when k is a multiple of 3,
z12k + z22k = 
 1 when k is not a multiple of 3.
(11 marks)

6. p and q are real numbers such that (p + qi)2 = 21  20i.
Find the values of p and q.
Hence write down the two square roots of 21  20i.
(6 marks)
14

12. (a) Let z and Re(z) denote the conjugate and the real part of a complex number z
Respectively.
Show that
(i) z z is real,
(ii) z + z = 2Re(z).
(2 marks)

50
2. (a) Express in standard form.
4  3i
(b) By putting z = a + bi, where a, b are real numbers,
50
solve the equation 5z + 3 z = .
4  3i
(5 marks)

2  4i
5. (a) Express the complex number in standard form.
1 i
2  4i
(b) If p + qi = (q + i), where p and q are real constants, find the values of p and q.
1 i
(6 marks)
13. Let α, β be the real roots of the quadratic equation
x2 λx + 1 = 0, where λ  2.
Let Sn = αn + βn, where n is a positie integer.
(a) Express S2 and S3 in terms of λ.
(5 marks)
5 4 3
(b) Find the value of α  λα + α .
Hence show that S5  λS4 + S3 = 0 ……. (*). (4 marks)
(c) It is known that S3, S4 and S5 are non-zero.
Suppose S3 : S4 : S5 = 10 : 7λ : 25.
Using (*) in (b), find the value of λ.
Hence (i) find the values of S3,
5 5
 5 1  5 1
(ii) evaluate   +
 
 withoug using a binomial expansion.

 2   2 
(7 marks)
15
1 i
3. (a) Express in standard form.
1 i
(b) Using (a), or otherwise, find the values(s) of n such that (1 + i)2n = (1 – i)2n, where n is
a positive inreger.
(5 marks)

5. Simplify the following complex numbers:
1 i
(a) .
1 i
(1  i )16
(b) .
(1  i )15
(5 marks)

20
 1  3i 
11. Simplify the complex number   .
 1  2i 
(5 marks)

2. (a) For any real numbers a, b and c such that a 2 + b 2 + c 2 = 1 and c  1,
a  ib
let z = .
1 c
1 c
(i) Show that |z|2 = .
1 c
16
Chapter 2: Functions and graphs

2.3 Quadratic functions
2.3.0A Simplify functions
4. Let f be an increasing function such that f(0)  0 and f(x + y) = f(x)f(y) for any x, y  0.
(a) (i) Prove that f(0) = 1.
HKAL Pure Mathematics 93p1:9

9. Let f:    be a function such that f(x + y) = f(x) + f(y) for all x, y   .
(a) Show that
(i) f(0) = 0,
(ii) f(x) = f(x) for all x   ,
(iii) f(nx) = nf(x) for all n  Z and x   .
(5 marks)
(b) Show that if there exists K > 0 such that f(x) < K for all x   , then f(x) = 0 for all
x  .
(3 marks)
(c) Suppose there exists K > 0 such that
f(x) < K for all x  [0, 1].
Let g(x) = f(x)  f(1)x for all x   .
Show that, for all x, y   ,
(i) g(x + y) = g(x) + g(y),
(ii) g(x + 1) = g(x),
(iii) g(x) < K + |f(1)|.
Hence, or otherwise, show that
f(x) = f(1)x for all x   .
(7 marks)

10. Denote the open interval (0,  ) by * . Let f: *   be a continuous function such that
f(xy) = f(x) + f(y) for all x, y  * .
(a) Show that
(i) f(1) = 0,
(ii) f(x1) = f(x) for all x  * ,
(iii) f(xn) = nf(x) for all n  Z and x  * .
(6 marks)
17
2.3.0B Find unknown in quadratic functions

2
6. Let f(x) = ax + bx + c where a, b, c are real numbers and a  0.
Show that if f[f(x)] = [f(x)]2 for all x, then f(x) = x2.
(4 marks)
18
2.3.0C Odd and even functions

2x
8. Let y = f(x) = .
x 1
2
(a) Show that f(x) = f(x).

(2 marks)

4. Let f : [1, 1]  [0,π], f(x) = arc cosx and
g : R  R, g(x) = f(cosx).
(a) Show that g(x) is even and periodic.
(b) Find g(x) for x  [0,π].
Hence sketch the graph of g(x) for x  [2π, 2π].
(5 marks)

5. Let the k term in the binomial expansion of (1 + x)2n in ascending powers of x be denoted
th
by Tk, i.e., Tk = C k2n1 x k 1 .
1
(a) If x = , find the range of values of k such that Tk + 1 Tk.
3
1
(b) Find the greatest term in the expansion if x = and n = 15.
3
(5 marks)

5. (a) If the function g : R  R is both even and odd, show that g(x) = 0 for all x  R.
(b) For any function f : R  R, define
1 1
F(x) = [f(x) + f(x)] and G(x) = [f(x)  f(x)].
2 2
(i) Show that F is an even function and G is an odd function.
(ii) If f(x) = M(x) + N(x) for all x  R, where M is even and N is odd, show that
M(x) = F(x) and N(x) = G(x) for all x  R.
(6 marks)
19

 x when 0  x  3,
2. Let f:    be an even function such that f(x) = 
 x  1 when x  3.
(a) Write down the value of f(5).
(b) Sketch the graph of y = f(x).
(c) Let g:    be defined by g(x) = f(x + 2)  f(x  2).
(i) Prove that g is an odd function.
(ii) Sketch the graph of y = g(x).
(7 marks)

3. Let f : R  R be defined by f(x) = |x + 2|  |x  2|.
(a) Is f an odd function? Explain your answer.
(b) Sketch the graph y = f(x).
20
2.3A-D Understand the features of the graphs of quadratic functions:

(A) vertex, (B) the axis of symmetry, (C) the direction of opening
and (D) relations with the axes

1
10. C is the curve y = [2x2 + (k + 7)x + 4], where k is a real number not equal to 1.
k 1
(a) If C cuts the x-axis at two points P and Q and PQ = 1, find the value(s) of k.
(6 marks)
(b) Find the range of values of k such that C does not cut the x-axis.
(4 marks)
(c) Show that C always passes through two fixed points for all values of k not equal to 1.
What are the coordinates of the two points?
(6 marks)

7  4x
10. Let f(x) = .
x2  2
(a) (i) Find the x- and y-intercepts of the curve y = f(x).
21

1
12. Consider the function f(x) = x2  4mx  (5m2  6m + 1), where m > .
3
(a) Show that the equation f(x) = 0 has distinct real roots.
(3 marks)
(b) Let α, β be the roots of the equation f(x) = 0, where α < β.
(i) Express α and β in terms of m.
(ii) Furthermore, it is known that 4 < β < 5.
6
(1) Show that 1 < m < .
5
(2)
y y y
y = f(x) y = f(x)
y = f(x)
O x O x O x
1 4 5 1 4 5 1 4 5
1
Sketch A Sketch B Sketch C

Figure 4
Figure 4 shows three sketches of the graph of y = f(x) drawn by three
students. Their teacher points out that the three sketches are all incorrect.
Explain why each of the skethes is incorrect.
(13 marks)
22

15. Given two curves C1 : y = f(x), where f(x) is a quadratic function, and
1  h  20 
C2 : y =  x2    x + h.
5  10 
C1 has the vertex (4, 9) and passes through the point (10, 0).
1 2
(a) Show that f(x) =  x + 2x + 5.
4
(3 marks)
(b) (i) Show that C2 also passes through the point (10, 0).
(ii) If C1 and C2 meet at two points, find, in terms of h, the x-coordinate of the point
other than (10, 0).
(5 marks)
(c)
y
P C2
D2
C1
15
D1
O
x
Figure 8
Figure 8 shows a fountain. A vertical water pipe OP of height 15 units is installed on
the horizontal ground. Two streams ofd water are ejected continuously from two small
holes D1 and D2 in the pipe, with D2 above D1. The two streams of water lie in the
same vertical plane. A rectangular coordinate system is introduced in this plane, with O
as the origin and OP on the positive y-axis. The fountain is designed such that the
stream of water ejected from D1 lies on the curve C1, and that ejected from D2 lies on
C2.
(i) Find OD1.
(ii) If the two streams of water do not cross each other in the air before meeting at the
same point onf the ground, find the range of possible values of OD2.
(4 marks)
23

2
4. If kx + x + k > 0 for all real values of x, where k  0, find the range of possible values of
k.
(4 marks)

5. The straight line y = x + k intersects the curve y = x2 at two points P and Q. It is known that
the locus of the mid-point of PQ, as k varies, lies on a straight line L. Find the equation of L.
(4 marks)

4.
x
y = kx2  x + 9k
Figure 1
2
The graph of y = kx  x + 9k lies below the x-axis, where k  0 (see Figure 1).
Find the range of possible values of k.
(4 marks)
24
2.3E Find the maximum and minimum values of quadratic functions by the
graphical method

x2 4
9. Given the curve C : y =  , where x  1.
1 x 3
(a) Find the x- and y- intercepts of the curve C.
(2 marks)
25
2.4 Maximum and minimum values

2.4A Find the maximum and minimum values of quadratic functions by
the algebraic method
2
5. Let f(x) = x + ax + b, where a and b are real.
 a
Show that f(x)  f    for all real values of x
 2
Hence, or otherwise, find the minimum value of x2  13 x + 5.
(6 marks)
3. The maximum value of the function f(x) = 4k + 18x  kx2 (k is a positive constant) is 45.
Find k.
(5 marks)
9.
C1 y
C2
x
P' P Q Q' O
Figure 2
2
Let f(x) = x + 4x + 1. The curve C1 : y = f(x) cuts the x-axis at two points P and Q (See
Figure 2).
(a) (i) Write f(x) in the form (x + a)2 + b. Hence find the coordinates of the vertex of C1.
(ii) Find the length of PQ. (Leave your answer in surd form.)
(5 marks)
(b) C1 is shifted vertically downwards by m units to form the curve C2 : y = g(x). C2 cuts
the x-axis at two points P' and Q' (See Figure 2).
(i) Find the coordinates of the vertex of C2 in terms of m.
Hence, or otherwise, find g(x).
(ii) Find the length of P'Q' in terms of m.
(iii) If P'Q' = 2PQ, find the value of m.
(6 marks)
26
(c) C1 is shifted horizontally towards the right by n units to form the curve C3 : y = h(x).
(i) Find the coordinates of the vertex of C3 in terms of n.
Hence find h(x).
(ii) Find the two values of n such that C3 passes through the origin.
(5 marks)
11. Let f(x) = x2  kx, where k is a real constant, and g(x) = x.
k2
(a) Show that the least value of f(x) is  and find the corresponding value of x.
4
(3 marks)
(b) Find the coordinates of the two intersecting points of the curves y = f(x) and y = g(x).
(3 marks)
(c) Suppose k = 3.
(i) In the same diagram, sketch the graphs of y = f(x) and y = g(x) and label their
intersecting points.
(ii) Find the range of values of x such that f(x)  g(x).
Hence find the least value of f(x) within this range of values of x.
(6 marks)
3
(d) Suppose k = .
2
Find the least value of f(x) within the range of values of x such that f(x)  g(x).
(4 marks)
27

11.
B
y = g(x)
A y = f(x)
x
O
Figure 3
2
Let f(x) = x  2x  6 and g(x) = 2x + 6. The graphs of y = f(x) and y = g(x) intersect at
points A and B (see Figure 3). C is the vertex of the graph of y = f(x).
(a) Find the coordinates of points A, B and C.
(b) Write down the range of values of x such that f(x)  g(x).
Hence write down the value(s) of k such that the equation f(x) = k has only one real
root in this range.
(7 marks)
28

2
17. Let f(x) = (x  a) + b, where a and b are real. Point P is the vertex of the graph of
y = f(x).
(a) Write down the coordinates of point P.
(1 mark)
2
(b) Let g(x) be a quadratic function such that the coefficient of x is 1 and the
vertex of the graph of y = g(x) is the point Q(b, a). It is given that te graph of
y = f(x) passes through point Q.
(i) Write down g(x) and show that the graph of y = g(x) passes through point
P.
(ii) Furthermore, the graph of y = f(x) touches the x-axis. For each of the
possible cases, sketch the graphs of y = f(x) and y = g(x) in the same
diagram.
(11 marks)
29
Chapter 3: Exponential and logarithmic functions

3.3 Logarithms
3.3.0 Definition of logarithms
6. Find two real values of p for which the equation
log10|x2 + 2px| = 0
has a double root.
(8 marks)
9. A researcher monitors the process of using micro-organisms to decompose food waste to
fertilizer. He records daily the pH value of the waste and models its pH value by
1
P(t) =a + (t2  8t  8) e  kt ,
5
where t (  0) is the time measured in days, a and k are positive constants.
When the decomposition process starts (i.e. t = 0), the pH value of the waste is 5.9. Also,
the researcher finds that P(8)  P(4) = 1.83.
(a) Find the values of a and k correct to 1 decimal place.
(5 marks)
30
3.3A-F Understand the properties of logarithms (including the change of

base)
2. If log32 = a and log313 = b, express log7852 in terms of a and b.
(5 marks)
6. If a, b, x, y and z are numbers greater than 1 and ax = by = (ab)z,
xy
show that z = .
x y
(6 marks)
x x+1
1. If 2 = 10 , find x, giving your answer correct to 3 significant figures.
(5 marks)
2. Without using tables or calculators, simplify
log 3 4  log 3 25  log 3 9

.
log 8  log 5  log12
(5 marks)
2. Given that a, b, c are in arithmetic progression and the positive numbers x, y, z are in
geometric progression, prove that
(b  c)logx + (c  a)logy + (a  b)logz = 0.
(6 marks)
2. After adding a chemical into a bottle of solution, the temperature S(t) of the surface of the
bottle can be modeled by
S(t) = 2(t + 1)2 e  t + 15,
where S(t) is measured in C, t (  0) is the time measured in seconds after the chemical has
been added and λ is a positive constant. It is given that S(9) = S(19).
(a) Find the exact value of λ.
31
3.4 Understand the properties of exponential functions and logarithmic

functions and recognize the features of their graphs
3.4B The function f(x) = ax increases (decreases) as x increases for
a > 1 (0 < a < 1)
3. The value R(t), in thousand dollars, of a machine can be modeled by
R(t) = A e 0.5t + B,
where t (  0) is the time, in years, since the machine has been purchased. At t = 0, its value
is 500 thousand dollars and in the long run, its value is 10 thousand dollars.
(a) Find the values of A and B.
32
3.5 Solve (A) exponential equations and (B) logarithmic equations

5. Solve the equation log4x  logx16 = 1.
(6 marks)
2. The quadratic equation
x2loga + (x + 1)logb = 0,
where a and b are constants,has non-zero equal roots.
Find b in terms of a.
(5 marks)
HKASL MATHEMATICS AND STATISTICS 96:10
10. The monthly cost C(t) at time t of operating a certain machine in a factory can be modeled
by
C(t) = a ebt  1 (0  t  36),
where t is in month and C(t) is in thousand dollars.
Table 1 shows the value of C(t) when t = 1, 2, 3, 4.
t 1 2 3 4
C(t) 1.21 1.44 1.70 1.98
Table 1
(a) (i) Express ln[C(t) + 1] as a linear function of t.
(ii)
ln[C(t) + 1]
1.2
1.1
1.0
0.9
0.8
0.7
0.6
0.5 t
0 1 2 3 4
33
Use Table 1 and the graph paper above to estimate graphically the values of a and
b correct to 1 decimal place.
(iii) Using the values of a and b found in (a)(ii), estimate the monthly cost of
operating this machine when t = 36.
(8 marks)
(b) The monthly income P(t) generated by this machine at time t can be modeled by
P(t) = 439  e0.2t (0  t  36),
where t is in month and P(t) is in thousand dollars.
The factory will stop using this machine when the monthly cost of operation exceeds
the monthly income.
(i) Find the value of t when the factory stops using this machine.
Give the answer correct to the nearest integer.
(ii) What is the total profit generated by this machine?
Give the answer correct to the nearest thousand dollars.
(7 marks)

8. A vehicle tunnel company wants to raise the tunnel fees. An expert predicts that after the
increase in the tunnel fees, the number of vehicles passing through the tunnel each day will
drop drastically in the first week and on the t-th day after the first week, the number N(t) (in
thousands) of vehicles passing through the tunnel can be modeled by
40
N(t) = (t  0),
1  be  rt
where b and r are positive constants.
(a) Suppose that by the end of the first week after the increase in the tunnel fees, the
number of vehicles passin through the tunnel each day drops to 16 thousand and by the
end of the second week, the number increases to 17.4 thousand, find b and r correct to
2 decimal places.
(5 marks)
9. A stall sells clams only. The relationship between the selling price $x of each clam and the
number N(x) of clams sold per day can be modeled by
ln N(x) = bx + lna,
where a and b are constants. This relationship is represented by the straight line shown in
Figure 1.
34
lnN(x)
7.9
7.8
7.7
7.6
7.5
7.4
O x
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
Figure 1
(a) Use the graph in Figure 1 to estimate the values of a and b correct to 1 significant
figure. (3 marks)
(b) Suppose the daily running cost of the stall is $5 000 and the cost of each clam is $2.
Using the values of a and b estimated in (a),
(i) express the daily profit of selling N(x) clams in terms of x, and
(ii) determine the selling price of each clam so that the daily profit of selling N(x)
clams will attain its maximum. What is then the number of clams sold per day?
Give the answer correct to the nearest integer.
(7 marks)
(c) The stall has been running a promotion programme every day from April 15, 1997.
The number M(n) of clams sold on the n-th day of the programme is given by
M(n) = 1500 + 1000(1  e 0.1 ).
The stall will stop running the programme once the increase in the number of clams
sold between two consecutive days falls below 15. Determine how many days the
programme should be run. Give the answer correct to the nearest integer.
(5 marks)
35
10. A forest fire has started in a country. An official of the Department of Environmental
Protection wants to estimate the number of trees destroyed in the fire when the fire is out of
control. Let t be the number of days after the fire has started and r(t), in hundred trees per
day, be the rate of trees destroyed. The official obtained the following data:
t 2 3 4 5 6 7
r(.4t) 6.4 15.7 29.5 48.3 72.2 101.2
(a) It is suggested that r(t) can be modeled by either one of the following functions
(I): r(t) = t  or
(II): r(t) = et ,
where α, β, γ and λ are constants.
(i) Express lnr(t) in terms of lnt and t in (I) and (II) respectively.
(ii) Use the graph papers below to determine which function can better describe r(t).
Hence estimate graphically the two unknown constants in that function. Give your
answers correct to 1 decimal place.
(10 marks)
lnr(t)
5
O lnt
0.5 1 1.5 2
36
lnr(t)
5
O t
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
37

9. An ecologist studies the birds at Mai Po Nature Reserve. Only 21% of the birds are
“residents”, i.e. found throughout the year. The remaining birds are migrants. The ecologist
suggests that the number N(t) of a certain species of migrants can be modeled by the
function
3000
N(t) = ,
1  ae  bt
where a, b are positive constants and t is the number of days elapsed since the first one of
that species of migrants was found at Mai Po in that year.
ln 3000  1
N(t)
4
O x
5 10 15 20
1
2
3
(a) This year, the ecologist obtained the following data:

t 5 10 15 20
N(t) 250 870 1940 2670
38
 3000 
(i) Express ln 1 as a linear function of t.
 N (t ) 
(ii) Use the graph paper on Page 6 to estimate graphically the values of a and b
correct to 1 decimal place.
(5 marks)

11. A researcher studied the commercial fishing situation in a certain fishing zone. Denoting the
total catch of coral fish in that zone in t years from January 1, 1992 by N(t) (in thousand
tonnes), he obtained the following data:
t 2 4
N(t) 55 98
1 kt
The researcher modelled N(t) by lnN(t) = a  e where a and k are constants.
1 98
(a) Show that e 4 k  e 2 k + ln = 0.
e 55
Hence find, to 2 decimal places, two sets of values of a and k.
(4 marks)
(b) The researcher later found out that N(7) = 170. Determine which set of values of a and
k obtained in (a) will make the model fit for the known data.
Hence estimate, to nearest thousand tonnes, the total possible catch of coral fish in that
zone since January 1, 1992.
(4 marks)
8. A researcher studied the soot reduction effect of a petrol additive on soot emission of a car.
Let t be the number of hours elapsed after the petrol additive has been used and r(t),
measured in ppm per hour, be the rate of change of the amount of soot reduced. The
researcher suggested that r(t) can be modeled by
r(t) =αt e  t , where α and β are positive constants.
r (t )
(a) Express ln as a linear function of t.
t
(1 mark)
39
HKASL MATHEMATICS AND STATISTICS 09:8(a)(i)(ii)(b)(i)

8. A researcher models the population size R, in hundreds, of a certain species of fish in a lake
by
t
R= kt1.2 e 20 (0  t  30),
where t is the number of months elapsed since the beginning of the study and k and λ are
constants.
(a) (i) Express lnR  1.2lnt as a linear function of t.
(ii) It is given that the graph of lnR  1.2lnt against t has intercept 2.89 on the vertical
axis and slope 0.05. Find the values of k and λ correct to the nearest integer.
(b) In order to stimulate the growth of this species of fish, more food is added immediately
when the population size of the fish attains 240 hundreds. The population size of the
species of fish can then be modeled by
Q = L  20(6 e  t + t3) (0  t  2),
where Q is the population size (in hundreds) of the species of fish, t is the number of
months elapsed since more food has been added and L is a onstant.
(i) Find the value of L.

6. It is known that for any continuous function  defined on R, if  (x + y) =  (x) +  (y)
for any x, y  R, then  (x) =  (1)x for any x  R.
(a) Suppose f is a non-constant continuous function defined for all positive real numbers
such that
f(xy) = f(x) + f(y) for any x, y > 0.
The function g is defined by g(t) = f( e t ) for t  R.
(i) Show that g(t) = g(1)t for any t  R.
1
f (e)
(ii) Deduce that f(x) = logbx for any x > 0, where b = e .
40
Chapter 4: More about polynomials

4.0 Properties of polynomials
4.0A Factorization of polynomials
10. Let f(x) = 3 x 3  x 2  x  1 .
(a) Find the roots of f(x) = 0.

(1 mark)
41
4.0B Expansion of polynomials

1. Expand (1 + 2x) (1 + 3x) in ascending powers of x as far as the term containing x2.
3 4
(5 marks)
1. Find the coefficient of x2 in the expansion of (1 + 2x)4 (1  x)7.
(5 marks)
4 3
4. Expand (1 + ax) (1  4x) in ascending powers of x up to and including the term containing
x7.
Given that the coefficient of x is zero, evaluate the coefficient of x2.
(7 marks)
8
 a r
1. In the expansion of  x 2   , where a  0, the coefficient of x is denoted by Br. Find
 x
the value of a if B7 = 4B10.

(5 marks)
n
 1
1.  ax  2  is expanded in descending powers of x, where n is a positive integer and a > 0. If
 x 
21
the fourth term of the expansion is independent of x and is equal to , find the values of n
2
and a.
(5 marks)
2 n
2. In the expansion of (x + 2) in descending powers of x, where n is a positive integer, the
coefficient of the third term is 40. Find the value of n and the coefficient of x4.
(5 marks)
1. If the coefficient of x in the expansion of (1 + x + x2)n is 21 and n is a positive integer, find
2
the value of n.
(5 marks)
1. Given (1 + 3x)4 (1  2x)5 = 1 + ax + bx2 + higher powers of x, find the values of the
constants a and b.
(5 marks)
42

3
10  2
1. Find the constant term in the expansion of (1 + x) 1   .
 x
(5 marks)
1. (a) Simplify ( 2( x  x)  2 x )( 2( x  x) + 2 x ).

1 1  x
3. (a) Show that  = .
x  x x x ( x  x )( x  x  x )
2. Expand (1 + 2x) (2  x) in ascending powers of x up to the term x2.
7 2
(5 marks)
8
 1
4. Find the constant term in the expansion of  2 x 3   .
 x
(4 marks)
1. If n is a positive integer and the coefficient of x2 in the expansion of
(1 + x)n + (1 + 2x)n
is 75, find the value(s) of n.
(4 marks)
43

9
 1
12. Determine whether the expansion of  2 x 2   consists of
 x
(a) a constant term,

(b) an x2 term.
In each part, find the term if it exists.
(6 marks)
2. (a) Expand (1 + 2x) in ascending powers of x up to the term x3.
6
 1 1 
(b) Find the constant term in the expansion of 1   2  (1 + 2x)6.
 x x 
(4 marks)
5
2. (a) Expand (1 + y) .
(b) Using (a), or otherwise, expand (1 + x + 2x2)5 in ascending powers of x up to the term
x2.
(4 marks)
3. It is given that
(1  2x + 3x2)n = 1  10x + kx2 + terms involving higher powers of x,
where n is a positive integer and k is a constant. Find the values of n and k.
(5 marks)
12. If the coefficient of x in the expansion of (1  2x + x2)n is 66, find the value of n and the
2
coefficient of x3.
(6 marks)
3
 1
2. (a) Expand  2 x   .
 x
3
2  1
(b) Find the coefficient of x in the expansion of (3x  x  5)  2 x   .
 x
(4 marks)
44

20
 1
11. In the binomial expansion of  x 2   , find
 x
(a) the coefficient of x16,

(b) the constant term.
(6 marks)
5. The sum of the coefficients of x and x 2 in the expansion of (1 + 4x) n is 180, where n
is a positive integer. Find the value of n and the coefficient of x 3 .
(5 marks)
HKASL MATHEMATICS AND STATISTICS 96:8(b)(i)
8. (b) (i) Expand (1  x6)4.
4. Suppose r + r is a root of the cubic equation x3 + ax + b = 0, where a, b, r are rational
numbers and r is not a rational number.
(a) Show that r3 + 3r2 + ar + b = 0 and 3r2 + r + a = 0.
(b) Using (a), or otherwise, show that
(i) r  r is also a root of the equation, and
8a  9b 4
(ii) r = if a  .
2(3a  4) 3
(7 marks)
3. Let n be a positive integer.
(1  x) n  1
(a) Expand in ascending powers of x.
x
(b) Using (a) or otherwise, show that
C2n + 2 C3n + 3 C4n + … + (n  1) Cnn = (n  2)2n  1 + 1.
(5 marks)
6 5 4 3 2
3. Let f(x) = x + x + x + x + x + x + 1.
(a) If α is a root of the equation f(x) = 0, find α7.
45
4.0C Identities
1. Given (1 + 2x  3x ) = 1 + ax + bx2 + terms involving higher powers of x, where n is a
2 n
positive integer.
(a) Express a and b in terms of n.
(b) If b = 6, find the value of n.
(5 marks)
1. Given that (1 + x + ax ) = 1 + 8x + k1x2 + k2x3 + terms involving higher powers of x.
2 8
(a) Express k1 and k2 in terms of a.

(b) If k1 = 4, find the value of a.
Hence find the value of k2.
(5 marks)
2. In the expansion of (1 + 3x) (1 + x)n, where n is a positive integer, the coefficient of x is 10.
2
(a) Find the value of n.

(b) Find the coefficient of x2.
(5 marks)
2 n 2
3. Given (1 + 4x + x ) = 1 + ax + bx + other terms involving higher powers of x, where n is a
positive integer.
(a) Express a and b in terms of n.
(b) If a = 20, find n and b.
(6 marks)
5
3  1
3. (a) Expand (1  2x) and 1   .
 x
5
 1
3
(b) Find, in the expansion of (1  2x) 1   ,
 x
(i) the constant term, and

(ii) the coefficient of x.
(5 marks)
46

5 5
 1  1 c
4. Given  x 2     x 2   = ax7 + bx + 5 , find the values of a, b and c.
 x  x x
5 5
 1   1 
Hence evaluate  2   2   .
 2  2
(6 marks)
2 2
4. Given x  6x + 11  (x + a) + b, where x is real.
(a) Find the values of a and b.
Hence write down the least value of x2  6x + 11.
1
(b) Using (a), or otherwise, write down the range of possible values of .
x  6 x  11
2
(5 marks)
2. It is given that
(1 + x + ax2)6 = 1 + 6x + k1x2 + k2x3 + terms involving higher powers of x.
(a) Express k1 and k2 in terms of a.
(b) If 6, k1 and k2 are in A.P., find the value of a.
(6 marks)
8. Expand (1 + x) (1  2x) in ascending powers of x up to the term x2, where n is a positive
n 4
integer.
If the coefficient of x2 is 54, find the coefficient of x.
(7 marks)
7. (a) Expand (1 + 2x) in ascending poers of x up to the terms x 3 , where n is a
n
positive integer.
2
 3
(b) In the expansion of  x   (1 + 2x) n , the constant term is 210.
 x
Find the value of n.

(6 marks)
47

1. Let r be a rational number. The binomial expansion of (1 + ax)r in ascending powers of x is
3 27 2
1+ x+ x + bx3 + …, where a and b are constants.
2 8
(a) Find the values of r, a and b.
HKASL MATHEMATICS AND STATISTICS 07:1(a)(i)
r
 x 2r 1 2
1. The binomial expansion of 1   in ascending powers of x is 1 + x x + …,
 a 3 18
where a is a non-zero constant and r is a rational number.

(a) (i) Find the values of a and r.
3 2
7. Suppose the equation x + px + qx + 1 = 0 has three real roots.
a
(a) If the roots of the equation can be written as , a and ar, show that p = q.
r
(b) If p = q, show that 1 is a root of the equation and the three roots of the equation can
form a geometric sequence.
(7 marks)
HKAL Pure Mathematics 01p1:13(b)(i)
4 3 2
13. (b) Let f(x) = x + 8x + 23x + 26x + 7 and g(x) = f(x + k) where k  R amd the
coefficient of x3 in g(x) is zero.
(i) Find k and the coefficients of g(x).
4 2
10. (a) Let f(x) = x + 2ax + 4bx + c, where a, b, c   with b  0. It is known that
f(x)  (x2 + 2tx + r)(x2  2tx + s), where r, s, t   .
(i) Prove that t  0.
(ii) Express r and s in terms of a, b and t.
(iii) Prove that 4t6 + 4at4 + (a2  c)t2  b2 = 0.
(6 marks)
(b) Consider the equation
y4 + 4y3  2y2 + 52y + 9 = 0 …… (*)
(ii) Find a constant h such that when y = x + h, (*) can be written as
x4  8x2 + 64x  48 = 0 …… (**)
(ii) Using the results of (a), solve (**) in (b)(i).
Hence write down all the roots of (*).
(9 marks)
48

r2
8. (a) Let p, q, r  R with pr  0. Prove that the equation x4 + px3 + qx2 + rx + = 0 can be
p2
2
 r   r   2r 
written as  x   + p  x   +  q   = 0.
 px   px   p
(2 marks)
y4 +y2  4y  3 = 0 ............ (*).
When y = x + h, (*) can be written as x4 + Px3 + Qx2 + Rx + S = 0.
(i) Express P, Q, R and S in terms of h.
(ii) Prove that P2S = R2 if and only if 8h3 + 13h2  4h + 4 = 0.
(6 marks)
(c) Using (a) and (b), solve (*) in (b).
(7 marks)
3. (a) Let a, b and c be three numbers such that a + b + c = 0. Prove that a3 + b3 + c3 = 3abc.
(b) Using (a), solve (x  2 2 + 5 3 )3  (3x + 6 2  7 3 )3 + 8(x + 4 2  6 3 )3 = 0.
(6 marks)
49
4.2 Understand the remainder theorem

HKCEE Additional Mathematics 80p1:9(b)(i)
3 2
9. (b) Let f(x) = 3x + mx  9x + n, where m and n are integers.
When f(x) is divided by x  1, the remainder is 8.
When f(x) is divided by x  2, the remainder is 5.
(i) Show that m = 3 and n = 1.
2. Let f(x) be a polynomial with real coefficients. When f(x) is divided by (x  1)(x  3), the
remainder is 2x + 5.
(a) Find f(1).
(b) When f(x) is divided by (x  1)(x  2), the remainder is kx + 8, where k is a real
constant.
(i) Find k.
(ii) Find the remainder when (f(x))2007 is divided by x  2.
(6 marks)
3. It is given that f(x) and g(x) are polynomials with real coefficients satisfying the following
conditions:
(1) f(x) = g(x) + x3 + kx2 + 8, where k is a real constant;
(2) f(x) and g(x) are both divisible by x + 2.
(a) Find k.
(b) Suppose that when g(x) is divided by x2  1, the remainder is 4x  1. Find
(i) f(1),
(ii) the remainder when f(x) is divided by x2  1.
(6 marks)
3
3. Let f(x) = x + g(x), where g(x) is a quadratic polynomial with real coefficients.
When f(x) is divided by (x  1)(x  4) and when f(x) is divided by (x  4) 2 , the
remainders are x + k and kx  10 respectively, where k is a real number. Find
(a) k,
(b) g(x),
(c) the remainder when (g(x)) 3 is divided by x + 1.
(7 marks)
50
4.3 Understand the factor theorem

HKAL Applied Mathematics 96p2:8(a)(i)(b)
8. Let f(x) be a function of x that satisfies f(1) = 6, f(2) = 7 and f(4) = 33.
(a) (i) Find a quadratic polynomial, g(x), that equals f(x) at x = 1, 2 and 4.
(b) Let p(x) and q(x) be two polynomials which are equal at n distinct values of x, namely,
x1, x2, ..., xn. Show that there exists a polynomial r(x) such that
p(x) = q(x) + (x  x1) (x  x2) ... (x  xn)r(x).
(3 marks)
1. Let f(x) be a function of x that satisfies f(0) = 3, f(1) = 6 and f(3) = 18.
(a) Find a quadratic polynomial that equals f(x) at x = 0, 1 and 3.
HKAL Applied Mathematics 98p2:9(a)(i)
9. (a) Let f(x) be a continuous function of x and g(x) be the quadratic polynomial that equals
f(x) at x = h, 0 and h.
(i) Find g(x) in terms of h, f(h), f(0), f(h) and x.
x
2. Consider the function f(x) = sin . Let p(x) be the quadratic polynomial which equals f(x)
6
at x = 0, 1 and 2.
(a) Find p(x).
5. (a) Let P(x) be a polynomial of degree 4 such that P(x) = 0 when x = 1, 0, 1 and 2. Write
down an expression for P(x).
HKAL Applied Mathematics 08p2:12(a)(b)
12. Consider a function f(x) which satisfies f(2) = 0, f(0) = 32, f(2) = 48 and f(4) = 0.
Let g(x) be the cubic polynomial which equals f(x) at x = 2, 0, 2 and 4.
(a) Find g(x).
(2 marks)
(b) Find p(x) and q(x) be two polynomials which are equal at x = x 1 , x 2 , x 3 and x 4 ,
where x 1 , x 2 , x 3 and x 4 are all distinct. Show that
p(x) = q(x) + (x  x 1 )(x  x 2 )(x  x 3 )(x  x 4 )r(x)
for some polynomial r(x).
(3 marks)
5. (a) (i) Let ω = 1 and ω  1. Show that the expansion x3  3uvx  (u3 + v3) = 0 can
3
be factorized as (x  u  v)(x  ωu  ω2v)(x  ω2u  ωv).
51

13. Let Z+ be the set of all positive integers and m, n  Z+.
Let A(m, n) = (1  xm)(1  xm + 1) ... (1  xm + n  1),
A(m, n) = (1  x)(1  x2) ... (1  xn).
(a) Show that A(m + 1, n + 1)  A(m, n + 1) is divisible by (1  xn + 1)A(m + 1, n).
(2 marks)
2. (a) Let k and n be positive integers.
If k > 1, show that when (1 + k)n is divided by k, the remainder is 1.
(b) If today is Tuesday, what day of the week is 896 days after?
(4 marks)
3 2
4. Let f(x) = x + px + qx + r, where p, q and r are non-zero real numbers.
(a) If f(x) is divisible by x2 + q, find r in terms of p and q.
(b) Suppose that f(x) is divisible by both x  a and x + a, where a is a non-zero real
number.
(i) Factorize f(x) as a product of three linear polynomials with real coefficients.
(ii) If f(x) and f(x + a) have a non-constant common factor, find p in terms of a.
(7 marks)
4. Let f(x) be a polynomial of degree 4 with real coefficients. When f(x) is divided by x  2,
the remainder is 4. When f(x) is divide by x + 3, the remainder is 6. Let r(x) be the
remainder with f(x) is divided by (x  2)(x + 3).
(a) Find r(x).
(b) Let g(x) = f(x)  r(x). It is known that g(x) is divisible by x2 + 1 and g(1) = 16.
Find g(x).
(7 marks)
1
3. Let p(x) be a polynomial of degree 4 with real coefficients satisfying p(0) = 0, p(1) = ,
2
3 4
p(3) = and p(4) = .
4 5
(a) Let q(x) = (x + )p(x)  x.
(i) Evaluate q(0), q(1), q(2), q(3) and q(4).
(ii) Express q(x) as a product of linear polynomials.
(b) Evaluate p(5).
(6 marks)
52

9. (a) Consider the equation
x4 + Ax3 + Bx2 + Cx + D = 0 ............ (*).
where A, B, C and D are real constants.
Prove that (*) can be written as
(x2 + px)2 + q(x2 + px) + r = 0 ............ (**)
A A2 
if and only if C =  B  .
2 4 
(5 marks)
x4  20x3 +λx2 + 230x + 120 = 0 ............ (***).
whereλis a real constant.
If (***) can be written as (**), find the value ofλand solve (***).
(7 marks)
4 3 2
(c) Find all values ofμsuch that the equation x +μx + 77x + 230x + 60 = 0 can be
written as (**).
(3 marks)
3
6. (a) Factorize x  13x + 12 as a product of linear polynomials.
53
Chapter 5: More about equations

5.2 Use the algebraic method to solve simultaneous equations in two
unknowns, one linear and one quadratic
13. The line y = mx + 2, where m  0, intersects the parabola y 2 = x at two distinct
points A and B.
1
(a) Show that m < .
8
(3 marks)
(b) Find, in terms of m, the coordinates of the mid-point of chord AB.
(3 marks)
(c) Let L be the perpendicular bisector of chord AB. If L passes through the point
(0, 3), show that 6m 3 + m 2  4m + 1 = 0.
Hence find the equation(s) of L.
(6 marks)
54
Chapter 7: Arithmetic and geometric sequences and their
summations
7.0 Other sequences
11. (b)
Identical cubical bricks are piled up in layers to form a pyramid-like solid with a
square base of side x metres as shown in Figure 2. The side of the bottom layer
consists of n bricks whereas each side of the square layer immeditely above has n  1
bricks, and so on. There is only one brick in the top layer.
(i) Find the volume of the rth layer counting from the top.
Hence find the volume of the solid.

9. (b)
Figure 3
On a battle field, cannon-balls are stacked For a stack with n layers, the balls
in the bottom layer are arranged as shown in Figure 3 with n balls on each side.
For the second bottom layer, the arrangement is similar but each side consists
of (n  1) balls; for the third bottom layer, each side has (n  2) balls, and so
on. The top layer consists of only one ball.
(i) Find the number of balls in the r-th layer counting from the top.
55
1
7.1A Tn  (Tn1  Tn1 )
2
6. (a) Suppose the cubic equation x3 + px2 + qx + r = 0. where p, q and r are real numbers,
has three real roots.
Using relations between coefficients and roots, or otherwise, prove that the three roots
p
form an arithmetic sequence if and only if is a root of the equation.
3
(b) Find the two values of p such that the equation x3 + px2 + 21x + p = 0 has three real
roots that form an arithmetic sequence.
(8 marks)
7.3 Understand the concept and the properties of geometric sequences

7.3.0 Definition
1. It is given that (1 + x + kx ) = 1 + ax + bx 2 + terms involving higher powers of x.
2 3
(a) Express b in terms of k.

(b) If 1, a, b form a geometric sequence, find the value of k.
(5 marks)
56
Chapter 8: Inequalities and linear programming

8.0 Solve linear inequalities in one unknown
7. Let x be a real number satisfying |x  2|  1. Solve the inequality and hence find the
greatest value of |x2  6|.
(6 marks)
7. Solve the inequality (x + 2)|x  2| < 5.
(7 marks)
| x 3|
7. Solve the inequality < 1 by considering each of the following cases:
2x
(i) x  3,
(ii) 3 > x > 0,
(iii) 0 > x.
(7 marks)
2( x  1)
1. Solve the inequality  1.
x2
(4 marks)
2x  3
3. Solve the inequality  1.
x 1
(4 marks)
x
2. Solve the inequality > 2.
x 1
(4 marks)
1
1. Solve > 1.
x
(3 marks)
57

5. (a) Solve |1  x| = 2.
(b) By considering the cases x  1 and x > 1, or otherwise, solve |1  x| = x  1.
(5 marks)
11. (a) Solve |x  1| = |x|  1, where 0  x  1.
(b) Solve |x  1| = |x|  1.
(5 marks)
11. (a) Solve |x  3| + 3 = x, where x  3.
(b) Solve |x  3| + 3 = x.
(5 marks)
4. Solve 2x = |x  2|.
(4 marks)
3
11. (a) Solve |2x  3| = |2x|  3, where 0  x  .
2
(b) Solve |2x  3| = |2x|  3.
(6 marks)
2. (a) Let p and q be positive numbers. Using the fact that lnx is increasing on (0,  ). Show
that (p  q)(lnp  lnq)  0.
(b) Let a, b and c be positive numbers. Using (a) or otherwise, show that
abc
alna + blnb+ clnc  (lna + lnb + lnc).
3
(6 marks)
3. Let f : R  R be defined by f(x) = |x  1|  |x + 1|.
(a) Sketch the graph of y = f(x).
(b) If f a surjective function? Explain your answer.
(c) Let g : R  R be defined by g(x) = f(x  1)  f(x + 1) + 1.
(i) Prove that g is an even function.
(ii) Sketch the graph of y = g(x).
(7 marks)
58

9. Let {xn} and {yn} be sequences of real numbers, where x1 = 2, y1 = 8 and
x 2 y  x n y n2 x n2  y n2
xn + 1 = n 2n and yn+1 = for all n = 1, 2, 3, ... .
x n  y n2 xn  y n
 ( x n3  y n3 )( x n  y n )
(a) Prove that xn + 1  yn + 1 = .
( x n  y n )( x n2  y n2 )
(2 marks)
(b) Prove tht
(i) xn  yn,
(ii) xn + 1  xn,
(iii) yn + 1  yn.
(5 marks)
10. (a) Prove that t lnt  (1 + t) ln(1 + t) < 0 for all t > 0.
(2 marks)
59
8.1 Solve compound linear inequalities in one unknown

2
9. Let f(x) = x + 2x  2
and g(x) = 2x2  12x  23.
(a) Express g(x) in the form a(x + b)2 + c, where a, b and c are real constants.
Hence show that g(x) < 0 for all real values of x.
(3 marks)
(b) Let k1 and k2 (k1 > k2) be the two values of k such that the equation f(x) + kg(x) = 0 has
equal roots.
(i) Find k1 and k2.
(ii) Show that
f(x) + k1g(x)  0
and f(x) + k2g(x)  0 for all real values of x.
(8 marks)
(c) Using (a) and (b), or otherwise,
f( x)
find the greatest and least values of .
g( x)
(5 marks)
| 3 x  4 | 2
5. Solve  1 .
1
 2 x  1
(6 marks)
y
11. Solve  2.
y2
2x
Hence, or otherwise, solve  2.
2x  2
(6 marks)
7. Solve the following inequalities :
(a) |x  1| > 2 ;
(b) | |y|  1 | > 2.

(5 marks)

6. Solve the ineqaulity |x  1|  |x + 2| > 2.
(5 marks)
60

1. (a) Solve the inequality | |x|  6|  3, where x is a real number.
(b) Using the reault of (a), or otherwise, solve the inequality | |1  2y|  6|  3, where y is a
real number.
(6 marks)
61
8.2 Solve quadratic inequalities in one unknown by the graphical method

2
7. Draw the graphs of y = x and y = |x  2| for 3  x  3.
Hence solve the inequality |x  2| < x2.
(7 marks)
3. Solve |x(x + 5)| > 6 for real values of x.
(6 marks)
2
5. Solve |x + 2x + 3|  5 for real values of x.
(6 marks)
62
8.3 Solve quadratic inequalities in one unknown by the algebraic method

6. Solve the inequality
x2  |x|  x < 0.
(6 marks)
12. Let λ1 and λ2 be the roots of the quadratic equation
t2  (b + 1)t + (b  1) = 0 ......... (*),
where b is a real number.
(a) (i) Show that λ1 and λ2 are real and distinct.
(ii) By proving (1 λ1)(1 λ2) < 0, deduce that
either λ1 < 1 <λ2 or λ2 < 1 <λ1.
(7 marks)
(b) Let be one of the roots of (*). Find b in terms of and hence express
(1 λ)[(x2 + 2x + b) λ(x2 + 1)] as a perfect square.
(5 marks)
(c) Using the results of (a) and (b), show taht ifλ1 <λ2, then
x2  2x  b
λ1   λ2 for all real values of x.
x2  1
(8 marks)
1. Determine the range of values of λ for which the equation
x2 + 4x + 2 +λ(2x + 1) = 0
has no real roots.
(5 marks)
1
8. Let f(x) = 5x2 + bx + c, where b and c are real, c > 0 and f   < 0.
2
(a) Show that the equation
f(x) = 0
has two distinct real roots.
(6 marks)
(b) Let α and β (α < β) be the roots of f(x) = 0.
(i) By expressing f(x) in factor form, show that
1
0< α < < β.
2
1 1
(ii) If   =   , find the value of b and hence the range of values of c.
2 2
(14 marks)
63

2
3. Solve the inequality x  ax  4  0, where a is real. If among possible values of x
satisfying the above ineqaulity, the greatest is 4, find the least.
(6 marks)
3
7. Solve x > + 2 for each of the following cases:
x
(a) x > 0;
(b) x < 0.
(7 marks)
2
5. Let f(x) = x + 4mx + 4m + 15, where m is a constant.
Find the discriminant of the equation f(x) = 0.
Hence, or otherwise, find the range of values of m so that f(x) > 0 for all real values of x.
(5 marks)
x2  5x  1
5. Let =r ......... (*)
x2  x  1
Express (*) in the form ax2 + bx + c = 0.
Hence find the range of the values of r for real values of x.
(5 marks)
2
8. Solve (x  2)  5 |x  2|  6 = 0.
(6 marks)
2
6. Solve (x + 2)  8 |x + 2| + 15  0.
(6 marks)
2
3. Solve |x  2| = |x  4|.
(5 marks)
9. α, β are roots of the quadratic equation
x2 + (p + 1)x + (p  1) = 0,
where p is a real number.
(a) Show that α, β are real and distinct.
(3 marks)
(b) Express (α  2)(β  2) in terms of p.
(3 marks)
64
(c) Given β < 2 < α.

5
(i) Using the result of (b), show that p <  .
3
(ii) If (α  β)2 < 24, find the range of possible value of p.
Hence write down the possible integral value(s) of p.
(10 marks)
2
7. Solve (x  3)  |x  3|  12 = 0 for real values of x.
(7 marks)
2
1. Let f(x) = x + (1  m)x + 2m  5, where m is a constant. Find the discriminant of the
equation f(x) = 0.
Hence find the range of values of m so that f(x) > 0 for all real values of x.
(5 marks)
4. By considering the two cases x > 0 and x < 0, or otherwise, solve the inequality
5
x > 4.
x
(6 marks)
2
10. Let f(x) = 12x + 2px  q
and g(x) = 12x2 + 2px  p,
where p, q are distinct real numbers. α, β are the roots of the equation f(x) = 0 and α,
γ are the roots of the equation g(x) = 0.
(a) Using the fact that f(α) = g(α) = 0, find the value of α.
Hence show that p + q = 3.
(3 marks)
(b) Express β and γ in terms of p.
(4 marks)
7
(c) Suppose  3   3 < .
24
(i) Find the range of possible values of p.
(ii) Furthermore, if p > q, write down the possible integral values of p and q.
(9 marks)
65

2
8. The graph of y = x  (k  2)x + k + 1 intersects the x-axis at two distinct points (α, 0) and
(β, 0), where k is real.
(a) Find the range of the possible values of k.
(b) Furthermore, if |α + β| < 5, find the range of possible values of k.
(7 marks)
8. Let α and β be the roots of the equation x2 + (k + 2)x + 2(k  1) = 0,
where k is real.
(a) Show that α and β are real and distinct.
(b) If |α + β| > 3, find the range of possible values of k.
(7 marks)
2
6. (a) Solve x  6x  16 > 0.
(b) Using (a), or otherwise, solve (y + 1)2  6 |y + 1|  16 > 0.
(6 marks)
2
3. Solve |x  3| = |x  4x + 3|.
(5 marks)
2
4. Let f(x) = 2x + 2(k  4)x + k, where k is real.
(a) Find the discriminant of the equation f(x) = 0.
(b) If the graph of y = f(x) lies above the x-axis for all values of x, find the range of
possible values of k.
(5 marks)
2
5. Solve the inequality x > |x|.
(4 marks)
8. Solve the following equations:
(a) |x  3| = 1.
(b) |x  1| = |x2  4x + 3|.
(6 marks)
5. Find the range of values of k such that
x2  x  1 > k(x  2)
for all values of x.
(4 marks)
66

2
13. The curve C : y = x and the straight line L : y = mx  2m intersect at two distinct points A
and B.
(a) Find the range of values of m.
 m m 2  4m 
(b) (i) Show that the coordinates of the mid-point of AB are  ,  .
2 2 
(ii) It is given that the straight line x + y = 5 bisects the line segment AB. Using (b)(i),
or otherwise, find the value(s) of m.
(7 marks)
2. Solve
(a) y2 + 5y  6  0,
(b) x4 + 5x2  6  0.
(5 marks)
2
4. It is given that (k  1) + kx + k  0 for all real values of x. Find the range of possible
values of k.
(4 marks)
3. Solve the following inequalities:
(a) 5x  3 > 2x + 9 ;
(b) x(x  8)  20 ;
(c) 5x  3 > 2x + 9 or x(x  8)  20 .
(5 marks)
HKASL MATHEMATICS AND STATISTICS 07:9(a)(c)(i)
9. In certain year, the amount of water (in million cubic metres) stored in a reservoir can be
modelled by
A(t) = (t2 + 5t + a) e kt + 7 (0  t  12),
where a and k are constants and t is the time measured in months from the start of the year.
The amount of water stored in the reservoir is the greatest when t = 2. It is found that
A(0) = 3.
(a) Find the value of a.
Hence find the amount of water stored in the reservoir when t = 1.
(2 marks)
(c) In that year, the period during which the amount of water stored in the reservoir is
7 million cubic metres or more is termed adequate.
(i) How long does the adequate period last?
67
HKAL Pure Mathematics 01p1:14(a):

14. (a) If a, b are two real numbers such that a  1  b, show that a + b  ab + 1 and the
equality holds if and only if a = 1 or b = 1.
(3 marks)
HKAL Pure Mathematics 07p1:6(a)(b)(i)
6. (a) Let r be a positive real number. Using rp + q  rp  rq + 1 = (rp  1)(rq  1), or otherwise,
prove that rp + q  rp  rq + 1  0 for any non-negative integers p and q.
(b) For each positive integer n, let an be the nth term of a geometric sequence of positive
real numbers.
(i) Using (a), or otherwise, prove that a1 + an  ak + an  k + 1 for all k = 1, 2, ..., n.
68
Measures, Shape and Space Strand
Chapter 10: Basic properties of circles

10.1D The straight line joining the centre and the mid-point of a chord which is
not a diameter is perpendicular to the chord
12.
y
A L
C(0, 1)


P x
O
B
Figure 3
Figure 3 shows a circle of radius 2 centred at the point C(0, 1). A variable straight
line L with positive slope passes through the origin O and makes an angle θ with
the positive x-axis. L intersects the circle at points A and B. Let S be the area of the
shaded segment. P is the point on L such that CP is perpendicular to AB. Let
∠PCA =  .
(a) (i) Find the length of CP in terms of θ.
Hence show that cosθ = 2 cos  .
(ii) Show that S = 4   2 sin 2  .
(5 marks)
69
10.2 Understand the angle properties of a circle

10.2A The angle subtended by an arc of a circle at the centre is double
the angle subtended by the arc at any point on the remaining part
of the circumference
HKCEE Additional Mathematics 10:13(a)(i)
13.
A
2
O
B C
Figure 3
Figure 3 shows a circle with centre O and radius 1. A triangle ABC is inscribed

in the circle with AB = AC. Let ∠BAC = 2θ, where 0 < θ < .
4
(a) Let S be the are of ΔABC.
sin 4
(i) Show that S = + sin2θ.
2
70
10.2D The angle in a semi-circle is a right angle
10.5 Understand the properties of tangents to a circle and angles in the alternate
segments
10.5A A tangent to a circle is perpendicular to the radius through the
point of contact
HKCEE Additional Mathematics 87p1:9(a)(i)(b)(i)
9. (a)
B H C
Figure 4(a)
Figure 4(a) shows a circle of centre O and radius a inscribed in an isosceles
triangle ABC with AB = AC. Let ∠OAB =θ.
(i) Find, in terms of a and θ, the height AH of ΔABC.
Hence show that the area of ΔABC is
a 2 (1  sin  ) 2
.
sin  cos
(b)
P
O

Q R
Figure 4(b)
Figure 4(b) shows a circle of centre O and radius b circumscribing an isosceles
triangle PQR with PQ = PR. Let ∠OQR =  .
(i) Show that the area of ΔPQR is
b 2 cos  (1 + sin  ).
71
Chapter 11: Locus

11.0A Polar coordinates
14. C 1 and C 2 are the circles x + y = 36 and x 2 + y 2  10x + 16 = 0 respectively.
2 2
(a) (i) Show that, for all values of θ, the variable point P(6cosθ, 6sinθ)
always lies on C 1 .
(ii) Find, in terms of θ, the equation of the tangent to C 1 at
P(6cosθ, 6sinθ).
(3 marks)
(b)
C1 L
C2
x
O
Figure 7
Let L be the common tangent to C 1 and C 2 with a positive slope (see Figure 7)
(i) Using (a), or otherwise, find the equation of L.
(ii) It is known that C 1 and C 2 intersect at two distinct points Q and R. A
circle C 3 , passing through Q and R, is bisected by L. Find the equation of
C3.
(9 marks)
72
11.0C Transformation
11.2 Describe and sketch the locus of points satisfying given conditions
7. S(s, 3s) and T(t, 3t) are variable points on the lines
y = 3x and
y = 3x,
respectively, such that the length of ST is always equal to 2 units. If P is the mid-point of
ST, find the equation of the locus of P.
(6 marks)
6. A is the point (3, 0). P(x1, y1) is a variable point on the circle x2 + y2 = 4. If AP is divided
internally in the ratio 2 : 3 at Q, find the equation of the locus of Q.
(6 marks)
7. P(x, y) is a variable point such that the distance between P and the point (4, 0) is always
equal to twice the distance from P to the line x  1 = 0.
(a) Find the equation of the locus of P. State whether the locus is a circle, an ellipse, a
hyperbola or a parabola.
5. P(x, y) is a variable point such that the distance from P to the line x  4 = 0 is always equal
to twice the distance P and the point (1, 0).
(a) Show that the equation of the locus of P is 3x2 + 4y2  12 = 0.
12. There is a variable straight line L 1 : y = kx + 1, where k is real. Let L 2 be the
straight line passing through the origin and perpendicular to L 1 . L 1 and L 2 intersect
at the point P.
(a) Find the coordinates of P in terms of k.
(b) Find the equation of the locus of P as k varies.
(6 marks)
73
11.3 Describe the locus of points with algebraic equations. Find the equations
of simple loci, which include equation of (A) straight lines, (B) circles and
(C) parabolas (in the form of y = ax2 + bx + c)
4. O and A are the points (0, 0) and (6, 0) respectively. P(x, y) is a variable point such that
PO + PA = 10. Find the equation of the locus of P, giving the answer in the form
ax2 + by2 + cx + d = 0.
(5 marks)
8. S and T are variable points on the lines y = 0 and x  y = 0 respectively, such that
the length of ST is always equal to 2 units.
Find the equation of the locus of the mid-point of ST.
(6 marks)
3. A straight line with slope m passes through the point (4, 7).
(a) Write down the equation of the line.
74
Chapter 12: Equations of straight lines and circles

12.0A Mid-point formula
 1 
3. A  t , t 2  is a point on the parabola x2 = 2y. B is the point (2, 2).
 2 
(a) Find the equation of the locus of the mid-point of AB as A moves along the parabola.
(b) Sketch the locus in (a).
(6 marks)
3. Given three points A(0, 2), B(4, 6) and C(3, 0). P is a point on AB such that
AP : PB =λ : 1, where λ > 0.
(a) Find the coordinates of P in terms of λ.
(b) If the area of ΔPAC is 6, find the value(s) of λ.
(5 marks)
10. Let f(x) = 2cos2x + 4sinx  3, where π  x  π.
(a) (i) Find the x- and y-intercepts of the curve y = f(x)
(ii) Find the maximum and minimum points of the curve y = f(x).
(10 marks)
3. Given a point A(4, 0). P(h, k) is a variable point on the circle C : x 2 + y 2 = 4. Let M
be the mid-point of AP.
(a) Express the coordinates of M in terms of h and k.
(b) Find the equation of the locus of M.
(4 marks)
75
12.0B Properties of straight lines

10. A(0, 2), B(3, 0) and C(1, 0) are the vertices of a triangle. PQRS is a variable
rectangle inscribed in the triangle with PQ on the x-axis, R on AC and S on AB, as
shown in Figure 3. Let the length of PS be h.
y
A(0, 2)
S R
h
x
B(3, 0) P O Q C(1, 0)
Figure 3
(a) Find the coordinates of S and R in terms of h.
(5 marks)
(b) Let A 1 be the area of PQRS when it is a square, A 2 be the maximum possible
area of rectangle PQRS, and A 3 be the area of ΔABC. Find the ratios
A1 : A2 : A3.
(8 marks)
(c) The centre of PQRS is the point M(x, y). Express x and y in terms of h.
Hence find the equation of the locus of M.
Show the locus on a diagram.
(7 marks)
76
12.1 Understand the equation of a straight line

12.1A-C Find the equation of a straight line from given conditions:
(A) the coordinates of any two points on the straight line
2. Find the ratio in which the line segment joining A(3, 1) and B(1, 1) is divided by the
straight line x  y  1 = 0.
(5 marks)
4.
y
y = x2  4x
L
Q
x
O
Figure 1
2
Figure 1 shows the curve y = x  4x. A straight line L intersects the curve at the points
P(1, 3) and Q(5, 5).
Find (a) the equation of L.

2. A and B are the pointes (1, 2) and (7, 4) respectively. P is a point on the line segment AB
AP
such that = k.
PB
(a) Write down the coordinates of P in terms of k.
(b) Hence find the ratio in which the line 7x  3y  28 = 0 divides the line segment AB.
(5 marks)
77
HKCEE Additional Mathematics 93p2:10(a)(b)(c)(i)

1 2
10. S(2s, s2), T(2t, t2) are two distinct points on the parabola y = x.
4
(a) Find the equation of the chord ST.
(2 marks)
(b) Find the equation of the tangent to the parabola at S.
(2 marks)
(c) Suppose ST passes through the point F(0, 1) and the tangents to the parabola at S and T
meet at a point P.
(i) Show that st = 1.
12. A(1, 0), B(4, 2) and C(0, 6) are three points on a rectangular coordinates system.
(a) Find the area of ΔABC.
area of APC 1
(b) P is a point on the line segment BC such that = . Find the coordinates
area of ABC 4
of P.
(6 marks)
78
(B) the slope of the straight line and the coordinates of a point on
it
3. A triangle is formed by the three straight lines
L1 : 6x + y + 3 = 0,
L2 : x + 2y + 1 = 0,
L2 : 10x + 6y  9 = 0.
Find the equation of the altitude of the triangle which is perpendicular to L3.
(6 marks)
 1
4. Two lines pass through (4, 3) and each line makes an angle with the line y = x. Find
4 3
the equations of the two lines.
(6 marks)
11.
y L1
45o
x
O
45o
Figure 1
Let L1 be the straight line y = 2x  5. L2 and L3 are two straight lines passing through the
origin and each makes an angle 45° with L1 (see Figure 1).
(a) Find the equations of L2 and L3.
(b) Find the area of the triangle bounded by L1, L2 and L3.
(6 marks)
6. Two straight lines L 1 : x  2y + 3 = 0 and L 2 : 2x  y  1 = 0 intersect at a point P. If
L is a straight line passing through P and with equal positive intercepts, find the
equaiton of L.
(5 marks)
79

4. Let P be a parabola y = 4ax where a is a non-zero constant, and A(at12, 2at1), B(at22, 2at2)
2
be two distinct points on P.

(a) Find the equation of chord AB.
(b) If A and B move in such a way that chord AB always passes through (a, 0), find the
equation of the locus of the mid-point of AB.
(5 marks)
80
(C) the slope and the y-intercept of the straight line

6. A straight line through C(3, 2) with slope m cuts the curve y = (x  2)2 at the point A and B.
If C is the mid-point of AB, find the value of m.
(6 marks)
6.
y
L2
Q
 P
x
O
L1
Figure 1
Figure 1 shows the line L 1 : 2x + y  6 = 0 intersecting the x-axis at point P.
(a) Let θ be the acute angle between L 1 and the x-axis. Find tanθ.
(b) L 2 is a line with positive slope passing through the origin O. If L 1 intersects L 2
at a point Q such that OP = OQ, find the equation of L 2 .
(4 marks)
81
12.1D-F Describe the features of a straight line from its equations.

(D) The slope
6. Let be the acute angle between the two lines L1 : y = 2x and L2 : y = 3x.
(a) Find tanθ.
(b) Find the equation of the line other than L2 which makes an angle θ with L1 and
passes through the origin.
(6 marks)
2. A family of straight lines is given by the equaiton
2x  3y + 4 + k(4x + 2y  1) = 0,
where k is any constant.
(a) Find the equation of the line in the family which passes through the point (1, 0).
6. L is the line y = 2x + 3.
(a) A line with slope m makes an angle 45° with L. Find the value(s) of m.
(b) A family of straight lines is given by the equation
2x  3y + 2 + k(x  y  1) = 0,
where k is real. Using (a), find the equation of the line in the family with positive slope
which makes an angle 45° with L.
(6 marks)
5. A family of straight line is given by the equation
y  3 + k(x  y + 1) = 0, where k is real.
(a) Find the equation of a line L1 in the family whose x-intercept is 5.
(b) Find the equation of a line L2 in the family which is parallel to the x-axis.
(c) Find the acute angle between L1 and L2.
(6 marks)
82

5.
y
A(1, 2)
P
x
O B(2, 0)
Figure 2
In Figure 2, the coordinates of points A and B are (1, 2) and (2, 0) respectively.
Point P divides AB internally in the ratio 1 : r.
(a) Find the coordinates of P in terms of r.
2r
(b) Show that the slope of OP is .
2r
(c) If ∠AOP = 45°, find the value of r.
(6 marks)
12. Consider the curves
C1 : xy = 1 (x > 0), C2 : xy = 1 (x < 0),
C3 : xy = 1 (x < 0), C4 : xy = 1 (x > 0).
and the region D determinded by |xy|  1 in the rectangular coordinate plane.
For 0 < a  1, let P, Q, R and S be points on C1, C2, C3 and C4 respectively, where
 1  1   1 1 
P =  a,  , Q =   , a  , R =   a,  and S =  ,a  .
 a  a   a a 
(a) Show that PQRS is a square.
(3 marks)
83
(E) The intercepts with the axes

HKCEE Additional Mathematics 85p1:10(b)
z 1
10. Let z be a complex number not equal to 1 and w = .
z 1
(b) In each of the following cases, find the locus of z and interpret the result geometrically:
(i) w is real,
(ii) w is purely imaginary,
(iii) |w| = 1. [Hint : You may use |w|2 = w w .]
(13 marks)
7.
y
B
D
C
A
x
O
Figure 2
In Figure 2, A(3, 0), B(0, 5) and C(0, 1) are three points and O is the origin. D is a point on
AB such that the area of ΔBCD equals half of the area of ΔOAB. Find the equation of the
line CD.
4x  3
9. C1 is the curve y = .
x2  1
(a) Find
(i) use x- and y- intercepts of the curve C1;
84

10.
y
C(xo, yo)
O x
A x + py  2p = 0
Figure 2
In Figure 2, the line x + py  2p = 0, where p > 0, cuts the x-axis and y-axis at points A and
B respectively. C(xo, yo) is a point on AB such that BC : CA = 1 : p2.
(a) Find xo and yo in terms of p.
(4 marks)
y
(b) Show that o = p.
xo
Hence find the equation of the locus of C as p varies.
Sketch the locus of C.
(7 marks)
(c) Find the coordinates of A if the area of OBC is greatest as p varies.
(5 marks)
3. Given two parallel lines L 1 : 2x + 2y  1 = 0 and L 2 : 2x + 2y  13 = 0.
(a) Find the y-intercept of L 1 .
(b) Find the distance between L 1 and L 2 .
(c) L 3 is another line parallel to L 1 . If the distance between L 1 and L 3 is equal to
that between L 1 and L 2 , find the equation of L 3 .
(5 marks)
85

10. A researcher studied the growth of a certain kind of bacteria. 100 000 such bacteria were put
into a beaker for cultivation. Let t be the number of days elapsed after the cultivation has
started and r(t), in thousands per day, be the growth rate of the bacteria. The researcher
obtained the following data:
t 1 2 3 4
r(t) 7.9 12.3 15.3 17.5
(a) The researcher suggested that r(t) can be modelled by r(t) = atb, where a and b are
positive constants.
(i) Express lnr(t) as a linear function of lnt.
(ii)
Using the graph paper above, estimate graphically the value of r(5) to 1 decimal
place without finding the values of a and b.
(5 marks)
(b) The researcher later observed that r(5) was 18.5 and considered the model in (a)
86
unsuitable. After reviewing some literature, he used the model r(t) = 20  p e  qt , where
p and q are positive constants.
(i) Express ln[20  r(t)] as a linear function of t.
(ii)
Using the graph paper above, estimate graphically the values of p and q to 3
significant figures.
(iii) Estimate the total number of bacteria, to the nearest thousand, after 15 days of
cultivation.
(10 marks)
87

2x  a
7. Define f(x) = for all x  2 and let g(x) = x2 + x + b, where a and b are constants.
x2
Let C1 and C2 be the curves y = f(x) and y = g(x) respectively.
It is given that C1 and C2 have a common y-intercept and f(3) = g(3).
(3 marks)
a  bx
7. Define f(x) = for all x  4. Let g(x) = f(x) for all x  4.
4 x
Let C1 and C2 be the curves y = f(x) and y = g(x) respectively.
3
It is given that the y-intercept of C1 is while the x-intercept of C2 is 2.
2
(2 marks)
88
(F) Whether it passes through a given point

12.2 Understand the possible intersection of two straight lines
12.2A Solving simultaneous linear equations in two unknowns
10. (a) The lines 3x  2y  8 = 0 and x  y  2 = 0 meet at a point P. L1 and L2 are lines
1
passing through P and having slopes and 2, respectively. Find their equations.
2
(6 marks)
4. The area of the triangle bounded by the two lines x + y = 4 and x  y = 2p and the y-axis is 9.
Find the two values of p. (6 marks)
10.
N P
x
R O S(1, 0)
x+1=0
Figure 2
In Figure 2, P(x, y) is a point equidistant from the point S(1, 0) and the line
x + 1 = 0.
(a) Show that the equation of the locus of P is y 2 = 4x.
(4 marks)
(b) Let the y-coordinate of P be 2t.
(i) Find the x-coordinate of P in terms of t.
(ii) N is the foot of the perpendicular from P to the line x + 1 = 0.
The bisector of ∠SPN intersects the x-axis at R.
(1) Show that the equation of PR is x  ty + t 2 = 0.
(2) Show that PR touches y 2 = 4x at P.
(3) Find the equation of the locus of the mid-point of PR.
(16 marks)
89
12.2B Determine the number of intersection points of two straight lines

from their equations
8. A(1, 3) and B(2, 2) are two points on a rectangular coordinate plane. P is a point on the
straight line 2x + y  3 = 0 such that the area of ΔAPB is 1. If P lies on the second
quadrant, find the coordinates of P.
(5 marks)
90
12.3 Understand the equation of a circle

12.3A-B Find the equation of a circle from given conditions such as:
(A) the coordinates of the centre and the radius of the circle
7. A is the fixed point (1, 2). P is a variable point moving on the circle
x2 + y2  2x  4y  5 = 0.
If M is the mid-point of AP, find the equation of the locus of M.
(6 marks)
11.
C1 A(0, 2)
C2
P(s, t) B(3, 3 )
4
x
Figure 3
 3
A(0, 2) is the entre of circle C1 with radius 4. B  3,  is the centre of circle C2 which
 4
touches the x-axis. P(s, t) is any point i the region as shown in Figure 3.
(a) Find AB and the radius of C2.
Hence show that C1 and C2 touch each other.
(4 marks)
(b) If P is the centre of a circle which touches the x-axis and C1, show that
4t = 12  s2.
(3 marks)
(c) If P is the centre of a circle which touches the x-axis and C2, show that
3t = (s  3)2.
(3 marks)
(d) Given that there are two circles in the shaded region, each of which touches the x-axsi,
C1 and C2. Using (b) and (c), find the equations of the two circles, giving your answers
in the form
(x  h)2 + (y  k)2 = r2. (6 marks)
91
10.
y
B(7, 40)
C3
P(h, k) C1
x
C2 O
A(7, 0)
Figure 3
2 2
C 1 is the circle x + y  16x  36 = 0 and C 2 is a circle centred at the point
A(7, 0). C 1 and C 2 touch externally as shown in Figure 3. P(h, k) is a point in the second
quadrant.
(a) Find the centre and radius of C1.
Hence find the radius of C2.
(4 marks)
(b) If P is the centre of a circle which touches both C1 and C2 externally, show that
8h2  k2  8h  48 = 0.
(5 marks)
(c) C3 is a circle centred at the point B(7, 40) and of the same radius as C2.
(i) If P is the centre of a circle which touches both C2 and C3 externally, write down
the equation of the locus of P.
(ii) Find the equation of the circle, with centre P, which touches all the three
circles C 1 , C 2 and C 3 externally.
(7 marks)
92
12.3C-E Describe the features of a circle from its equation.

(C) The centre
HKCEE Additional Mathematics 80p2:9(a)(b)(i)
9. A(5, 3) and B(5, 3) are two given points. P is a variable point such that the product of the
slopes of the lines PA and PB is equal to a constant k.
(a) Find the equation of the locus of P.
(b) Write down the range of values of k for which the locus of P is
(i) a circle.
9. Given two points A(5, 5) and B(7, 1). Let (h, k) be the centre of a circle C which
passes through A and B.
(a) Express h in terms of k.
Hence show that the equation C is
x 2 + y 2  4kx  2ky + 30k  50 = 0.
(5 marks)
93
(D) The radius

6. Given the equation x + y  2kx + 4ky + 6k2  2 = 0.
2 2
(a) Find the range of values of k so that the equation represents a circle with radius greater
than 1.
(b) Find the locus of the centre of the circle as k varies within the range in (a).
(8 marks)
13. Given a family of circles F: x2 + y2  6x  2y + k(2x  4y + 3) = 0, where k is real. All
circles in F pass through two fixed points A and B.
(a) Find, in terms of k, the centre of a circle in F and show that the radius of the circle is
5(k 2  k  2) .
(4 marks)
(b) By considering the radius of the smallest circle in F, or otherwise, find the length of
AB.
(4 marks)
13. C is a circle with equation x2 + y2 = 1. A(h, k) and B(0, 1) are two points on C. Let P(x, y)
be the point dividing AB in ratio 2 : 1.
(a) Express h in terms of x and k in terms of y.
(b) Find the equation of the locus of P as A moves on C.
(5 marks)
(F) Whether a given point lies inside, outside or on the circle.

9. The equation of the hyperbola H is
x2 y2
 = 1, where a, b > 0.
a2 b2
1 1 1 1 
Let P =  a (t  ), b(t  )  , where t  0.
2 t 2 t 
(a) (i) Show that P lies on H.
94
12.4 Intersections between lines

12.4A Find the coordinates of the intersections of a straight line and a
circle
10. A straight line through the point R(1, 1) has a variable slope m. It intersects the circle
x2 + y2 = 1
at A and B. Let P be the mid-point of AB.
(a) Find the coordinates of P in terms of m.
(9 marks)
(b) The locus of P is a part of a curve C. Find the equation of C and name it.
(6 marks)
(c) Sketch the locus of P.
(5 marks)
HKCEE Additional Mathematics 88p1:8(a)(b)(i)(d)(i)
x2  4x  2
8. The curve C : y = cuts the line y = 1 at P.
x2  4
(a) Find the coordinates of P.
(1 mark)
(b) For the curve C, find
(i) the x- and y- intercepts;
(d) (i) Express the equation of the curve C in the form
bx  c
y=a+ (a, b, c are constants).
x2  4
1
Hence show that if x > 1 then y > 1.
2
95
HKCEE Additional Mathematics 88p2:11(a)(c)

11.
y
x  5y + 59 = 0
K(1, 12)
S
H(3, 6)
C
x
O
Figure 4
In Figure 4, S is the centre of the circle C which passes through H(3, 6) and touches the
line x  5y + 59 = 0 at K(1, 12).
(a) Find the coordinates of S.
Hence, or otherwise, find the equation of the circle C.
(8 marks)
The line L : 3x  2y  5 = 0 cuts the circle C at A and B.
(c) Show that ∠ASB = 90°.
If P is any point on the circle C other tham A or B, write down the two possible values
of ∠APB.
(5 marks)
HKCEE Additional Mathematics 99p2:9(a)(b)(c)(i)
9.
y
x2 = 4y
L
B(x2, y2)
(0, 1)
A(x1, y1)
x
O
Figure 3
L is a straight line of slope m and passes through the point (0, 1). The line L cuts
the parabola x 2 = 4y at two points A(x 1 , y 1 ) and B(x 2 , y 2 ) as shown in Figure 3.
(a) Show that x 1 and x 2 are the roots of the equation
x 2  4mx  4 = 0.
(3 marks)
96
(b) Find (x 1  x 2 ) 2 in terms of m.

Hence, or otherwise, show that AB = 4(1 + m 2 ).
(6 marks)
(c) C is a circle with AB as a diameter.
(i) Find, in terms of m, the coordinates of the centre of C and its radius.

1. Chords with slope equal to 1 are drawn in the ellipse 2x2 + 2xy + y2 = 1.
Prove that the mid-points of these chords lie on a straight line, and find the equation of this
line.
(4 marks)
x2 y2
6. Let P be the point in the first quadrant at which the ellipse E: + = 1 and the straight
25 16
line L1: x = 3 intersect.
97
12.4B Understand the possible intersection of a straight line and a circle

9.
y
s L
P(x, y)

A(1, 2)
x
O
Figure 2(a)
L is a straight line which passes through point A(1, 2) and makes an angle θ with the
positive x-axis. P(x, y) is a point on L such that AP = s, as shown in Figure 2(a).
(a) Write down the coordinates of P in terms of s and θ.
(2 marks)
y
C
H
A(1, 2)
x
O
Figure 2(b)
2 2
The circleC : x + y  6x  10y + 30 = 0 cuts the line L at points H and K (see Figure 2(b)).
Let AH = s1, AK = s2.
(b) s2  (4cosθ+ 6sinθ)s + 9 = 0.
(3 marks)
(c) Using the result of (b), show that
HK2 = 48sinθcosθ  20cos2θ.
(4 marks)
(d) Using the result of (c), find equations of the two tangents from the point A to the circle
C.
(7 marks)
98
HKCEE Additional Mathematics 99p2:10(a)(d)

10. A(3, 0) and B(1, 0) are two points and P(x, y) is a variable point such that PA = 3 PB.
Let C be the locus of P.
(a) Show that the equation of C is x2 + y2 = 3.
(3 marks)
(d)
y
l
r Q(x, y)
 x
A(3, 0) O
Figure 4
l is a straight line which passes through point A and makes an angle θ with the
 
positive x-axis, where  θ . Q(x, y) is a point on l such that AQ = r. (See
2 2
Figure 4.)
(i) Write down the coordinates of Q in tems of r and θ.
(ii) l cuts C at two distinct points H and K. Let AH = r1, AK = r2.
(1) Show that r1 and r2 are the roots of the quadratic equation
r2  6rcosθ+ 6 = 0.
(2) Find the range of possible values of θ, giving your answers correct to three
significant figures.
(8 marks)
99

7.
y P
A(7, 1)
 x
O
Q
B(0, 6)
x2 + y2  6x + 4y  12 = 0
Figure 2
In Figure 2, a tangent PQ is drawn to the circle x 2 + y 2  6x + 4y  12 = 0 at the
point A(7, 1), B(0, 6) is another point lying on the circle. Let θ be the acute
angle between AB and PQ. Find the values of tanθ.
(5 marks)
6. Consider the line (L) : y = 2a and the circle (C) : x2 + y2 = a2, where a > 0. Let P be a
variable point on (L). If the tangents from P to (C) touch the circle (C) at points Q and R
respectively, show that the mid-point of QR lies on a fixed circle, and find the centre and
radius of this circle.
(6 marks)
2
5. Let P: y = 80x be a parabola.
(a) Prove that the straight line y = mx + c is a tangent to P if and only if mc = 20.
x2 y2
6. Let the equation of the ellipse E be + = 1, where a and b are two distinct positive
a 2 b2
constants. The coordinates of the points P and Q are (acosθ, bsinθ) and

( (a + b)cosθ, (a + b)sinθ) respectively, where 0 <θ< .
2
(a) Prove that
(i) P lies on E,
(ii) the straight line passing through P and Q is the normal to E at P.
(b) Let c be a constant such that the straight line xsinθ ycosθ= c is a tangent to
E. Express the distance between P and Q in terms of c.
(7 marks)
100
12.4C Find the equations of tangents to a circle

HKCEE Additional Mathematics 80p2:8(b)
8. (b) Given the curve
C : (x  1)2 + (y  2)2 + k(y  x  1) = 0,
where k is a non-zero constant.
(i) Show that C represents a circle passing through the point (1, 2),
(ii) find the coordinates of the centre of C in terms of k,
(iii) find the equation of the tangent to C at the point (1, 2).
12. The line L : y = mx + 2 meets the circle C : x2 + y2 = 1 at the points A(x1, y1) and B(x2, y2).
m2  3
(a) Show that the length of the chord AB is 2 .
m2  1
(6 marks)
(b) Find the values of m such that
(i) L meets C at two distinct points,
(ii) L is a tangent to C,
(iii) L does not meet C.
(5 marks)
(c) For the two tangents in (b)(ii), let the corresponding points of contact be P and Q.
Find the equation of PQ.
(5 marks)
(d) Find the equation of the family of circles of which PQ is a chord.
(4 marks)
8. M is the point (5, 6), L is the line 5x + 12y = 32 and C is the circle with M as centre and
touching L.
(a) Find the equation of C.
(4 marks)
(b) Show that C also touches the y-axis.
(2 marks)
(c) Find the equation of the tangent (other than the y-axis) to C from the origin.
(6 marks)
(d) P(2, 2) is a point on C. Q is another point on C such that PQ is a diameter. Find the
equation of the line PQ and write down the equation of the family of circles passing
through P and Q.
Hence, or otherwise, find the equation of the circle which passes through P, Q and the
origin.
(8 marks)
101

5. Find the equations of the two lines which are both parallel to the line 3x  2y = 0 and
tangent to the ellipse
4x2 + y2 = 16.
(6 marks)
6. A circle C passes through the point P(1, 2) and the points of intersection of the circles
C1 : x2 + y2  3x + 2y  2 = 0
and C2 : x2 + y2 + x + 3y  10 = 0.
Find the equations of (a) the circle C,
and (b) the tangent to C at P.
(6 marks)
2 2
9. Given the curve C : x + 4y = 4 and the point P(0, 3).
(a) L is a line of variable slope m through P. If L cuts C at two distinct real points, find the
possible range of values of m.
If L touches C, what are the possible values of m?
Hence write down the equations of the two tangents from P to C.
(10 marks)
6. Find the equations of the two tangents drawn from the point (1, 0) to the parabola y2 = 4x.
(6 marks)
102

11.
y
H
C1
x
O A(8, 0) B(16, 0)
C2
Figure 3
In Figure 3, A and B are the points (8, 0) and (16, 0) respectively.
The equation of the circle is x2 + y2  16x  4y + 64 = 0.
OH and BH are tangents to C1.
(a) (i) Show that C1 touches the x-axis at A.
(ii) Find the equation of OH.
(iii) Find the equation of BH.
(12 marks)
(b) In the figure, the equation of OK is 4x + 3y = 0. The circle
C2 : x2 + y2  16x + 2fy + c = 0 is inscribed circle of ΔOBK and touches the x-axis at
A.
(i) Find the values of the constants c and f.
(ii) Find area of ΔOBH : area of ΔOBK. (8 marks)
HKCEE Additional Mathematics 88p1:10(a)(b)(c)
2
10. Let f(x) = x + 2x  1
and g(x) = x2 + 2kx  k2 + 6 (where k is a constant.)
(a) Suppose the graph of y = f(x) cuts the x-axis at the points P and Q; and the graph of
y = g(x) cuts the x-axis at the points R and S.
(i) Find the lengths of PQ and RS.
(ii) Find, in terms of k, the x-coordinate of the mid-point of RS.
If the mid-points of PQ and RS coincide with each other, find the value of k.
(9 marks)
(b) If the graph of y = f(x) and y = g(x) intersect at only one point, find the possible values
of k; and for each value of k, find the point of intersection.
(6 marks)
(c) Find the range of values of k such that f(x) > g(x) for any real value of x. (5 marks)
103
12. L is a line through the point P(2, 0) with slope m (m  0), meeting the parabola y2 = 8x at
the points A(x1, y1) and B(x2, y2).
(a) Show that x1 and x2 are the roots of the equation
m2x2 + (4m2  8)x + 4m2 = 0.
(3 marks)
2
(b) Find (x1  x2) in terms of m.
(5 marks)
64(1  m )(1  m )
2 2
(c) Show that AB2 = .
m4
(5 marks)
2
(d) Find the values of m for which L touches y = 8x.
(3 marks)
3
(e) If m = and C is the point (2, 0), find by using (c), the area of ΔABC. (Leave the
3
answer in surd form.)
(4 marks)
104

2 2
x y
9. Given an ellipse E : + = 1.
25 16
Let the line L : y = mx + c be a tangent to E.
(a) Show that c2 = 25m2 + 16.
(4 marks)
(b) Suppose L passes through the point (h, k). Using the result of (a), show that
(h2  25)m2  2hkm + (k2  16) = 0.
(3 marks)
(c) Find equations of the two tangents from the point (7, 4) to E.
(5 marks)
(d) P is a variable point outside E and the two tangents from P to E are at right angles.
Find an equation of the locus of P.
(4 marks)
11.
y
L1 P
L2
O x
A
Figure 2
2
Given a parabola P : x = 8. L1 : y = m1x + c1 and L2 : y = m2x + c2 are two tangents to P
intersecting at a point A (see Figure 2).
(a) Express c1 in terms of m1.
(3 marks)
(b) Show that the coordinates of A are ( 2(m1 + m2), 2m1m2 ).
(4 marks)

(c) If the angle between L1 and L2 is , find the equation of the locus of A.
4
(5 marks)
(d) If L1 is perpendicular to L2, find the equation of the locus of A and sketch the locus.
(4 marks)
105

9. Given a family of circles
F : x2 + y2 + (4k + 4)x + (3k + 1)y  (8k + 8) = 0,
where k is real. C1 is the circle x2 + y2  2y = 0.
(a) Show that
(i) C1 is a circle in F.
(ii) C1 touches the x-axis.
(4 marks)
(b) Besides C1, there is another circle C2 in F which also touches the x-axis.
(i) Find the equation of C2.
(ii) Show that C1 and C2 touch externally.
(7 marks)
(c)
y
L
C1 C2 C3
x
O
Figure 5
Figure 5 shows the circles C1 and C2 in (b). L is a common tangent to C1 and C2. C3 is
a circle touching C2, L and the x-axis but it is not in F. (See Figure 5.) Find the
equation of C3.
(Hint : The centres of the three circles are collinear.)
(5 marks)
106
HKCEE Additional Mathematics 05:15(a)(b)(c)

15
y
C1
A
x
O
Figure 6
2 2
Figure 6 shows a circle C1 : x + y  4x  2y + 4 = 0 centred at point A. L is the straight line
y = kx.
(a) Find the range of values of k such that C1 and L intersect.
(3 marks)
(b) There are two tangents from the origin O to C1. Find the equation of the tangent L1
other than the x-axis.
(2 marks)
(c) Suppose that L and C1 intersect at two distinct points P and Q. Let M be the mid-point
of PQ.
k 2
(i) Show that the x-coordinate of M is .
k2 1
(ii) It is known that the locus of M, as k varies, lies on a circle C2.
(1) Find the equation of C2.
(2) Copy Figure 6 into your answer book and sketch the tangent L1 found in (b)
and the locus of M in the figure.
(7 marks)
107
HKCEE Additional Mathematics 07:15(a)(b)

15.
y
C L1
P
8 5
x
O
Figure 7
A straight line L1 : y = 2x intersects a circle C at two points to fosrm a chord of length 8 5 .
Let P(a, b) and r be the centre and radius of C respectively (see Figure 7).
(a) By considering the distance from P to L1, or otherwise, show that
4a 2  4ab  b 2  400
r2 = .
5
(3 marks)
(b)
y
L2 C L1
P
8 5
x
O
Figure 8
L2 : y = -2x is another straight line. Suppose P and r vary such that L2 is always a
tangent to C (see Figure 8).
(i) Find the equation of the locus of P.
(ii) If the area of C attains its least value, find the equation(s) of C.
(9 marks)
108

 1
17. Let L be the straight line passing through P  1,  with angle of inclination θ. It is
 3
 1 
known that the coordinates of any point Q on L are in the form   1  r cos ,  r sin   ,
 3 
where r is a real number.
(a) Find the length of PQ in terms of r.
(2 marks)
(b)
y
L
B
: y = 3x2 +2
A

x
1 O
P 1,
3
Figure 9
In Figure 9, L cuts the parabola  : y = 3x2 + 2 at points A and B. Let PA = r1 and PB = r2.
(i) Show that r1 and r2 are the roots of the equation
9r2cos2θ  3(sinθ + 6cosθ)r + 16 = 0.
(sin   2 cos )(sin   14 cos )
(ii) Using (b)(i), show that AB2 = .
9 cos 4 
(iii) Let L1 be a tangent to  from P, with point of contact R.
Using the above results, find the two possible slopes of L1 and the corresponding
lengths of PR.
 1
(iv) Let L2 be a tangent to  passing through the point 1,  . Write down the two
 3 
possible slopes of L2.
(10 marks)
109

15. In figure 6, C1 is a circle with centre (6, 5) touching the x-axis. C2 is a variable circle which
touches the y-axis and C1 internally.
y
C1 C2
(6, 5)
x
O
Figure 6
1
(a) Show that the equation of locus of the centre of C2 is x = y2  5y + 18.
2
(4 marks)
(b) It is known that the length of the tangent from an external point P(0, 3) to C2 is 5 and
the centre of C2 is in the first quadrant.
(i) Find the centre of C2.
(ii) Find the equations of the twoo tangents from P to C2.
(8 marks)
16.
y
C1
x
O
Figure 10
Figure 10 shows a circle C 1 : x + y 2  10y + 16 = 0. Let  be the family of
2
circles which touch the x-axis and C 1 externally, and S be the locus of the centres
of the circles in  .
1 2
(a) Show that the equation of S is y = x + 1.
16
(4 marks)
110
(b)
y
C2
(20, 16)
C1
S
x
O C3
Figure 11
Let C 2 and C 3 be circles in  . It is given that C 2 passes through the point
(20, 16) and it touches C 3 externally. Suppose that both the centres of C 2
and C 3 lie in the first quadrant (see Figure 11).
(i) Find the equation of C 2 .
(ii) Without any algebraic manipulation, determine whether the following
sentence is correct:
“The point of contact of C 2 and C 3 lies on S.”
(6 marks)
(c) Can we draw a circle satisfying all the following conditions?
* Its centre lies on S.
* It touches the x-axis
* It touches C 1 internally.
(2 marks)
111

2 2
x y
1. Given ellipse (E) : 2
+ 2 = 1.
a b
(a) P is a point (h, k). If y = mx + c is the equation of a tangent drawn from P to (E), show
that
(a2  h2)m2 + 2hkm + (b2  k2) = 0.
4. Given two ellipses
x2 y2
(E) : + = 1,
a2 b2
x2 y2
(F) : + = 1,
b2 a2
where 0 < b < a.
(a) Show that the line lx + my = 1 is tangent to (E) if and only if a2l2 + b2m2 = 1.
(b) Find the equation of the common tangents to (E) and (F).
9. Consider the hyperbola (H) : xy = c2, c > 0.
 c  c
Let P  ct1 ,  and Q  ct 2 ,  be points on (H) where t12  t22, t1  0 and t2  0.
 t1   t2 
(a) Find the equation of the straight line joining the points P and Q, and hence, or
otherwise, obtain the equation of the tangents to (H) at P and Q respectively.
(3 marks)
9. Given an ellipse
x2 y2
(E) : + =1
a2 b2
and a point P(h, k) outside (E).
(a) If y = mx + c is a tangent from P to (E), show that
(h 2  a 2 )m 2  2hkm + k 2  b 2 = 0.
(4 marks)
112
12.4D Find the coordinates of the intersections of two circles

6. The circles
C1 : x2 + y2 + 7y + 11 = 0 and
C2 : x2 + y2 + 6x + 4y + 8 = 0
touch each other externally at P.
(b) Find the equation of the common tangent at P.
(6 marks)
10. The circles C1 : x + y  4x + 2y + 1 = 0 and C2 : x2 + y2  10x  4y + 19 = 0 have a
2 2
common chord AB.

(a) (i) Find the equation of the line AB.
(ii) Find the equation of the circle with AB as a chord such that the area of the circle
is a minimum.
(9 marks)
7.
y
y = x3
y = x3  6x2 + 12x
A
x
O
Figure 1
Figure 1 shows two curves y = x and y = x3  6x2 + 12x intersecting at the origin and a
3
point A.
(a) Find the coordinates of A.
113

2 2
x y
3. E is the ellipse + = 1.
2 7
(a) Let the line y = mx + c be a tangent to E. Show that
c2 = 2m2 + 7.
(b) Using (a), find the equations of the two tangents from the point (0, 5) to E.
(7 marks)
10. The equation of a family of circles F is given by
x2 + y2  8kx  6ky + 25(k2  1) = 0,
where k is real.
(a) (i) Find the centre of a circle in F in terms of k.
Hence show that the centres of all circles in F lie on the line
3x  4y = 0.
(ii) Show that all circles in F have the same radius 5.
(3 marks)
(b)
y
x
O
3x  4y = 0
Figure 3
Figure 3 shows some circles in F. It is given that there are two parallel lines, both of
which are common tangents to all circles in F.
Write down the slope of these two common tangents.
Hence find the equations of these two common tangents.
(6 marks)
(c) A circle in F cuts the x-axis at two points A and B.
Using (a)(i), write down the distance from the centre of the circle to the x-axis in terms
of k.
Hence, or otherwise, find the equations of the two possible circles in F satisfying the
condiction AB = 8.
(7 marks)
114

2 2 2
14. Let J be the circle x + y = r , where r > 0.
(a) Suppose that the straight line L : y = mx + c is a tangent to J.
(i) Show that c 2 = r 2 (m 2 + 1).
(ii) If L passes through a point (h, k), show that (k  mh) 2 = r 2 (m 2 + 1).
(4 marks)
(b)
y
P(7, 4)
Q
J
x
O
R(5, 5)
Figure 4
J is inscribed in a triangle PQR (see Figure 4). The coordinates of P and R are
(7, 4) and (5, 5) respectively.
(i) Find the radius of J.
(ii) Using (a)(ii), or otherwise, find the slope of PQ.
(iii) Find the coordinates of Q.
(8 marks)
HKAL Pure Mathematics 07p2:10(c)(i)
10. (c) Consider the curve E1: y = 27  3x 2 , where 0 < x < 3, and the curve
x2
E2: y = 9  , where 0 < x < 3 3 .
3
(i) Find the point of intersection of E1 and E2.
115
Chapter 13: More about trigonometry
13.0 Basic trigonometry
13.0A Single triangle

1. A triangle has vertices P(k, 1), Q(7, 11) and R(1, 3). Given that the area of the triangle is
20 units, find the two values of k.
(5 marks)
12.
O P B
Figure 2
In Figure 2, B, due east of O, is the terminus of a railway OB of length b km, and A is a
town a km north of O. A road AP is to be built connecting A to the railway at P so that
goods can be transported from A to B via P. The cost of transporting 1 tonne of goods per
km by road is $k (k > 1) and $1 per km by railway. Let OP = x km, where 0  x  b, and
let the cost of transporting 1 tonne of goods from A to B via P be $T.
(a) Suppose b = 3a.
(i) Find T in terms of x, a and k.
116

13. In this question, numberical answers may be given correct to three significant figures.
A Country X
4 km
15 km Q
L P
2 km
Country Y B
Figure 5
In Figure 5, line L represents the border of two countries X and Y. Amy lives at place A in
Country X while Billy lives at place B in Country Y. P and Q are respectively the feet of
perpendicular from A and B to the border and AP = 4 km, PQ = 15 km, QB = 2 km. Amy
and Billy want to meet each other as early as possible at a certain point on the border.
They start walking from home to that point at the sametime. If one arrives earlier, he/she
has to wait for the other.
(a) Let R be a point on the border such that AR = RB.
(i) Find the distance of R from Q.
(ii) Suppose Amy and Billy walk at equal speeds of 4 km h1. Explain briefly why
they should walk to R in order to meet each other within the shortest time. Find
this shortest time.
(6 marks)
(b) (i) Suppose Billy runs at a speed of 8 km h1 instead and Amy still walks at a speed
of 4 km h1. To which point on the border should they go in order to meet each
other within the shortest time?
(ii) Suppose Billy rides on a bicycle at a speed of 16 km h1 instead and Amy still
walks at a speed of 4 km h1. To which point on the border should they go in order
to meet each other within the shortest time?
(10 marks)
117

13.
y
8 A(14, 8)
x = 4 + 3y2
2 B(r, 2)
x=r
x
O C(r, 0)
Figure 6(a)
A curve passes through three points A(14, 8), B(r, 2) and C(r, 0) as shown in Figure
6(a). The curve consists of two parts. The equation of the part joining A and B is
x = 4  3 y 2 and the part joining B and C is the vertical line x = r.
(a) Find the value of r.

(2 marks)
118
13.0C Polygon
12. In Figure 5, ABCDE is a regular pentagon of side 1 cm inscribed in a circle with centre O. H
is the foot of perpendicular drawn from C to the diagonal BE.
P H C
A O
F
Figure 5
(a) Find ∠ABE and ∠CBE.
By expressing the length of BE in two different forms, prove that
1
cos36°  cos72° = .
2
Hence find the value of cos36° in surd form.
(9 marks)
2
(b) Show that the radius of the circle is cm.
10  2 5
(5 marks)
(c) Let AP be one side of a regular decagon (10-sided polygon) inscribed in the same
circle. Find ∠PAO, and hence show that
2
AP = cm
10  2 5
(6 marks)
119
HKCEE Additional Mathematics 99p1:12(a)(b)(i)(c)

12.
A 2k cm D
2 cm
x cm
B E C
2x cm
Figure 5
Figure 5 shows a rectangle ABCD with AB = 2 cm and AD = 2k cm, where k is a
positive number. E and F are two variable points on the sides BC and CD
respectively such that CF = x cm and BE = 2x cm, where x is a non-negative
number. Let S cm 2 denote the area of ΔAEF.
(a) Show that S = x 2  2x + 2k.
(3 marks)
3
(b) Suppose k = .
2
(i) By considering that points E and F lie on the sides BC and CD, show that
3
0  x  .
2
(9 marks)
3
(c) Suppose k = . A student says that S is least when x = 1.
8
(i) Explain whether the student is correct.
(ii) Find the least value of S.
(4 marks)
120
13.0G Similar triangles

10.
P
L x M
Q R
N
Figure 4
In Figure 4, PQR is an isosceles triangle with base QR = 2r. N is the mid-point of QR. L and
M are variable points on PQ and PR, respectively, such that LM // QR. Let LM = x.
(a) Find x such that the area of ΔLMN is a maximum.
(8 marks)
11.
E
O
B D C
2t cm
Figure 2(a)
ABC is a variable isosceles triangle with AB = AC such that the radius of its inscribed circle
is 3 cm. The height AD and the base BC of ΔABC are h cm and 2t cm respectively, where
h > 6. (See Figure 2(a)) Let p cm be the perimeter of ΔABC.
9h
(a) Show that t2 = .
h6
(3 marks)
3
2h 2
(b) Show that p = 1
.
(h  6) 2
(3 marks)
121
HKCEE Additional Mathematics 93p1:9(a)(c)(i)

9.
A
C
1m
E D B
sm xm
Figure 2
Figure 2 shows a straight rod AB of length 8 m resting on a vertical wall CD of height 1 m.
The end B is free to slie along a horizontal rail such that AB is vertically above the rail. Let
E be the projection of A on the rail, DE = s m and BD = x m, where 0 < x < 3 7 .
8x
(a) Show that s =  x.
1  x2
(3 marks)
2
(c) Let P m be the area of the trapezium CAED.
32 x x
(i) Show that P =  .
1  x2 2

12.
C1
1
E
C2
F s
r
O A
H G
Figure 4

In Figure 4, OAB is a sector of unit radius and ∠AOB = 2θ, where 0 < θ < . C1 is an
2
inscribed circle of radius s in the sector. C2 is another circle of radius r touching OA, OB
and C1. Let E and F be the centres of C1 and C2 respectively. OA touches C1 and C2 at G and
H respectively.
sin 
(a) Show that s =
1  sin 
(b) By considering ΔOFH and ΔOEG, express r in terms of s.
122
HKCEE Additional Mathematics 09:16(b)

16. (b)
A xQ B
3
P
R 
S
D C

Figure 8
Figure 8 shows a rectangular cardboard ABCD with BC = 11 and DC = 14. A
variable rectangle PQRS is cut from the cardboard according to the following
rules:
[1] P is a fixed point on AD such that AP = 3,
[2] Q and R are points on AB and BC respectively.
Let x bethe length of AQ and g(x) be the area of the rectangle PQRS.
(i) By considering ΔAPQ and ΔBQR, express BR in terms of x.
(14  x)(9  x 2 )
Hence show that g(x) = .
3
(ii) By considering the fact that point S lies inside the cardboard ABCD, show
that the eange of values of x is given by
0  x  2 or 12  x  14.
(iii) Using (a)(ii), find the greatest value of g(x) in the range shown in (b)(ii).
(7 marks)
123
13.1 Understand the trigonometric functions

13.1A Value of trigonometric functions
11. In Figure 3, AB is a railway 50 km long. C is a factory h kilometers from B such that ∠
ABC = 90°. Goods areto be transported from C to A. The transportation cost per tonne of
goods across the country by truck is $2 per km, whereas by railway it is $1 per km.
C
A P B
Figure 3
(a) Let P be a point on the railway, ∠PCB =θ, and let $N be the total transportation cost
for 1 tonne of goods from C to P and then to A. Find N in terms of θ and h.
(4 marks)
9. (a) In Figure 4, P(a, b) is a point in the first quadrant. A variable line segment QR passes
through P with the end Q on the x-axis and R on the y-axis. Let∠RQO =θand QR = s.
y
R
P(a, b)
O
 x
Q
Figure 4
(i) Express s in terms of a, b andθ.
124

12.
A

a km
RIVER
N
M P
LAND  b km
B
Figure 5
In Figure 5, A is a fixed point in water a km from a straight river bank. B is a fixed point on
land b km from the river. M and N are the points on the bank nearest to A and B respectively.
P is a point between M and N. Let ∠MAP =θ and ∠NBP =  . A man can swim at a
speed of u km/h and run at a speed of v km/h, where u < v.
(a) The man swims from A to P and then runs to B.
(i) Express MN in terms of a, b, θ and  .
(b) Let MN = h km. Suppose the man swims from A to P and then runs to N.
(i) Express the time taken in terms of a, h, u, v and θ.
12. (b)
C
lm
X B D Y
2
u m/s u m/s
Figure 4
Figure 4 shows a circular pool of radius r metres centred at O. Two men, X and Y,
holding the ends of a long rod, are walking in the direction shown at a speed of u
metres per second. At a certain instant, the portion BD of the rod subtends an angle of
2θradians at O and is at a distance l metres from the mid-point C of the rim BD of the
pool.
(i) Express l in terms of r and θ.
125


10. (a) Solve 8cosx = sec 2 x for 0 < x < .
2
126
13.1B Graph of trigonometric functions

11.
y
y = cosx
y = ksinx
A
a  x
O
2
Figure 1
In Figure 1, the curves y = cosx and y = ksinx, where k > 0, intersect at the point A. It is

given that the x-coordinate of A is α, where 0 < α < .
2
1
(a) Show that tanα= .
k
x
3. Consider the function f(x) = cos . Let p(x) be the quadratic polynomial which
3
equals f(x) at x = 1, 0 and 1.
(a) Find p(x) by constructing a Lagrange interpolating polynomial.
x2 y2
9. Consider the ellipse E : + = 1, where a and b are two positive constants with
a2 b2

a > b. Let P be the point (acosθ, bsinθ), where 0 <θ< .
2
(a) Prove that P lies on E.
(1 mark)
127
13.1D Simplify trigonometric functions ofθ  x°

16.
D C
E
 
 
O
A B
Figure 9
In Figure 9, ABCD is a quadrilateral inscribed in a circle centred at O and with
radius r, such that AB // DC and O lies inside the quadrilateral. Let ∠COD = 2θ

and reflex ∠AOB = 2β, where 0 <θ< <β<π. Point E denotes the foot of
2
perpendicular from O to DC. Let S be the area of ABCD.
r2
(a) Show that S = [sin2θ sin2β+ 2sin(βθ)].
2
(3 marks)
128
13.2 Solve the trigonometric equations (A) asinθ= b, (B) acosθ= b,
(C) atanθ= b, (D) other trigonometric equations and (E) trigonometric

inequalities
sin 2 A 3
5. Given that = , where 90° < A < 180°,
1  2 cos A 19
2
sin A
find the value of .
1  2 cos A
(6 marks)
3 2
9. Let f(x)  x  (p + 1) + (p  q)x + q, where p and q are constants. ΔABC is a triangle
such that sinA, sinB and C are the three roots of the equation f(x) = 0.
(a) By factorizing f(x), deuce that ΔABC has a right angle,
and show that q  0.
(7 marks)
A B A B
4. Using the identity sinA + sinB = 2sin cos , find the general solution of
2 2
sin2θ+ sin4θ= cosθ.
(6 marks)
5.
y
A y = cosx
O x
360o
B y = sinx
Figure 1
Figure 1 shows the curves of y = sinx and y = cosx, where 0  x  2π, intersecting at
points A and B.
(a) Find the coordinates of A and B.
129

8.
ball
hm
40 m
O 
55 m
Figure 1
A ball is thrown vertically upwards from the roof of a building 40 metres in height.
After t seconds, the height of the ball above the roof is h metres, where
h = 20t  5t 2 . At this instant, the angle of elevation of the ball from a point O,
which is at a horizontal distance of 55 metres from the building, is θ. (See Figure
1.)
(a) Find (i) tanθ in terms of t,
(ii) the value of θ when t = 3.
130
1
13.3 Understand the formula ab sin C for areas of triangles
2
7.
R B

O x P S A
Figure 2
In Figure 2, P and S are variable points on the line OA while Q and R are
variable points on the line OB such that PQ  OB, RS  OA and OQ = QR.
θ is a constant. Let OP = x.
(a) Find the area of ΔOPQ and ΔORS in terms of x and θ.
(b) If the rates of change of area (with respect to x) of the two triangles are
equal, find θ.
(6marks)
131
13.4A Understand the sine formula

DSEM2 12:10(a)???

11. In Figure 2, ABC is a triangle with ∠A = θ. P is a point on AB such that PA = PB = PC =
l. R and Q are points on AC and BC, respectively, such that ∠QPC = ∠RPC = x.
B
P
x Q
x
l l

A R C
Figure 2
l sin 
(a) Show that PR = .
sin( x   )
(4 marks)
(b) Find ∠PCQ in terms of θ and hence find PQ in terms of l, x and θ.
(4 marks)
132

11.
3m
2
3
Q 
B xm O
Figure 4
2
In Figure 4, POQ is a rail where OQ is horizontal and ∠POQ = . AB is a rod of length
3
3 m which is free to slide on the rail with end A on OP and end B on OQ. End A is initially
3
at O and end B is pushed towards O at a constant speed of m s1. After t seconds, B is
3
x metres from O and the rod makes an angle θ with the horizontal.
(a) Express x in terms of θ.
(2 marks)
11. (a)
P



A B
Q
Figure 4(a)
Figure 4(a) shows a triangle PAB and Q is a point on AB. Let ∠AQP = ,
∠APQ = α and ∠QPB = β.
QA
(i) Express in terms of α and .
PA
QA QB
(ii) If = , show that α = β.
PA PB
(3 marks)
133

13.
Q
B
y
1m

6 
O x A P
Figure 5

In Figure 5, POQ is a rail and ∠POQ = . AB is a rod of length 1 m which is free to slide
6
on the rail with end A on OP and end B on OQ. Initially, end A is at the point on OP such
4
that ∠OAB = . End B is pushed towards O at a constat speed. After t seconds, OA = x m,
9
4
OB = y m and ∠OAB =θ, where 0  θ  .
9
(a) Express x and y in terms of θ.
(3 marks)
3. Find the value of tan22.5° in surd form.
(4 marks)
9. A(2009, 2009), B(2009, 0) are two points and L : y = mx is a straight line passing
through the origen. If L bisects ∠AOB, find the value of m in surd form.
(5 marks)
134
13.4B Understand the cosine formula

11. O, A, B are the points (0, 0), (10, 4), (5, 10) respectively.
C is a point on OB such that OC : CB = 1 : r and
D is a point on OA such that OD : DA = r : 1, where r > 0.
(a) Express the coordinates of C and D in terms of r.
(b) Express the area of ΔODC in terms of r.
(c) If the area of ΔODC is k times the area of ΔOAB, express r in termsof k.
1
Hence, or otherwise, show that k  .
4
11.
Q
B 7
y 120o
x A P
O
Figure 5
Figure 5 shows a rail POQ with ∠POQ = 120°. A rod AB of length 7 m is free to slide
on the rail with its end A on OP and end B on OQ. Let OA = x metres and OB = y metres.
(a) (i) Find a relation between x and y hence find the value of y when x = 2.
5. A(3, 6), B(1, 2) and C(5, 3) are three points. P(s, t) is a point on the line AB.
(a) Find t in terms of s.
13
(b) If the area of ΔAPC is , find the two values of s. (6 marks)
2
4.
B
3 cm x cm

A C
6 cm
Figure 1
In Figure 1, AB = 3 cm, AC = 6 cm, BC = x cm and ∠A = θ.
(a) Express x2 in terms of θ.
135
12.
C
15 cm  
4 cm 3 cm
B P A
Figure 2(a)
In Figure 2(a), ABC is a triangular piece of paper. P is the point on AB such that CP bisects
∠ACB. ∠ACP =θ, AC = 3 cm, BC = 15 cm and CP = 4 cm.
4
(a) By considering the areas of ΔABC, ΔAPC and ΔBPC, show that cosθ= .
5
(b)
3 cm
B' P A' 
C
15 cm
Figure 2(b)
ΔABC is folded along CP so that the planes APC and BPC are perpendicular as shown
in Figure 2(b). A and B are respectively the feet of the perpendiculars from A' and B' to
CP and CP produced.
(i) Find AA', BB' and A'B'.
(ii) Find the distance between A and B. (6 marks)
(c)
P C
B
Figure 2(c)
The paper is further folded along CP until CA lies along CB as shown in Figure 2(c).
Find ∠APB.
(5 marks)
136
13.

B Q
Figure 5(a)
In Figure 5(a), A, P, B, Q are four points on a circle in a horizontal plane. ∠AQB =θ,

∠PAQ = .
2
(a) Express sin∠ABQ in terms of AB, AQ and θ. Hence find PQ in terms of AB and θ.
(4 marks)
(b) Using the result of (a), show that
AP 2  BP 2  2 AP  BP cos
PQ = .
sin 
(3 marks)
137

12.
P'
P
P
C
C C'

 43o
 37o
A B A B
100 km 100 km
Figure 3(a) Figure 3(b)

A, B and C are three points on the horizontal ground and AB = 100 km. P is a point
vertically above C(see Figure 3(a)). Let ∠CAB =α, ∠CBA =β, ∠PAC =θ.
(a) Show that
100 sin 
(i) AC = km.
sin(   )
100 sin  tan 
(ii) PC = km.
sin(   )
(5 marks)
(b) Suppose at P, α = 45°,β = 30° and θ = 20°. An aeroplane climbs from P to a
point P' along a straight path. The projection of P' on the ground is the point C' (see
Figure 3(b)). Given that ∠C'AB = 37, ∠C'BA = 43° and ∠P'AC' = 17°, find, correct
to 2 decimal places,
(i) AC and AC',
(ii) the distance between C and C',
(iii) the increase in height of the aeroplane as it climbs from P to P'.
(iv) the angle of inclination of PP'.
(11 marks)
138

12. (a)
B
c a
b  C
A
O
Figure 8(a)
In Figure 8(a), a triangle ABC is inscribed in a circle with centre O and radius r. AB = c,
BC = a and CA = b. Let ∠BCA =θ.
(i) Express cosθ in terms of a, b and c.
c
(ii) Show that r = .
2 sin 
(iii) Using (i) and (ii), or otherwise, show that
abc
r= . (7 marks)
4a b  ( a 2  b 2  c 2 ) 2
2 2
(b) In this part, numerical answers should be given correct to two significant figures.
Building
B' C'
Pedestrian
walkway 5m 8m
P
21 m
120o Q
35 m
A'
Figure 8(b) Figure 8(c)

Figure 8(b) shows a pedestrian walkway joining the horizontal ground and the first
floor of a building. To estimate its length, the walkway is modeled by a circular arc
A'B'C' as shown in Figure 8(c), where A' denotes the entrance to the walkway on the
ground and C' the exit leading to the first floor on the building. P and Q are the feet of
perpendiculars from B' and C' to the ground respectively. It is given that A'P = 35 m,
PQ = 21 m, B'P = 5 m, C'Q = 8 m and ∠A'PQ = 120°.
(i) Find the radius of the circular arc A'B'C'.
(ii) Estimate the length of the walkway. (9 marks)
139

7. It is given the points A(2, 1) and B(2, 4). C is a point on AB such that AC : CB = 1 : 2.
(a) Find the coordinates of C.
(b) Show that OC bisects ∠AOB, where O is the origin.
(5 marks)
13.
 3
C A
 E
Figure 3
In Figure 3, ABCD is a quadrilateral with diagonals AC and BD perpendicular to
each other and intersecting at E. It is given that AD = 3, BC = 4 and
∠ADE =∠BCE =θ, where 0° < θ < 90°.
(a) (i) Show that AB = 5sinθ.
(ii) Express CD in terms of θ.
(3 marks)
(b)
A
D
C E
Figure 4
The quadrilateral is folded along BD as shown in Figure 4. Let the planes ABD
and BCD be  1 and  2 respectively. Let ABC =α. It is given that the angle
between the lines AB and BC = the angle between the planes  1 and  2 .
4 sin 
(i) By considering the length of AC, show that cosα = .
5  3 cos
(ii) Prove that α is acute.
(iii) Furthermore, it is given that
140
the angle between the line AB and  2 = the angle between the line
AD and  2 .
State with reasons whether the angle between the line AC and  2 is
greater than, less than or equal to the angle between the line AB and  2 .
(9 marks)
141
13.6 Use the above formulae to solve 2-dimensional and 3-dimensional

problems
13.6A Properties of simple 3-D figures
8. A solid right circular cone of volume V cubic metres and base radius r metres has a total
surface area of π square metres.
(a) Express V2 in terms of r.
9.
h
r
Figure 1
A man is to make a tank of capacity V cubic metres from thin metal sheets. The tank is to
consist of a right circular cylinder and two heispheres, as shown in Figure 1. The cylinder is
of length h metres and radius r metres.
(a) Express h in terms of r and V.
(3 marks)
(b) The cost per square metre of the cylindrical surface is k while that of the
hemisphericalr surfaces is 2k. Let the cost for making the tank be C.
16 2kV
(i) Show that C = πr2k +
3 r
3.
B x D x C
Figure 1
Figure 1 shows an isosceles triangle ABC with BC = 2x and AB = AC. The perimeter of the
triangle is 2 metres. The triangle is revolved about BC so as to form a solid consisting of
two cones with a common base of radius AD. Express the volume of this solid in terms of x.
Hence find the value of x for which this volume is a maximum.
(6 marks)
142

10
A 2 2 B
S Q
D C
Figure 2
In Figure 2, ABCD is a square tin plate of side 2 2 m. PQRS is a square whose centre
coincides with that of ABCD. The shaded parts are cut off and the remaining part is folded
to form a right pyramid with base PQRS. Let PQ = 2x metres and let the volume of the
pyramid = V cubic metres.
(a) Show that the height of the pyramis is given by 2 1  x metres.
Hence express V as a function of x.
(8 marks)

7.
30o h cm
Figure 2
Figure 2 shows a vessel in the shape of a riht circular cone with semi-vertical angle 30°.
Water is flowing out of the cone through its apex at a constant rate of π cm3 s1.
(a) Let V cm3 be the volume of water in the vessel when the depth of water is h cm.
Express V in terms of h.
143
HKCEE Additional Mathematics 92p1:11(a)(b)(i)(c)(i)

11.
6x
2
x cm
x cm
Figure 4(a)
Figure 4(a) shows a solid consisting of a right pyramid and a cuboid with a common face
6x
which is a square of side x cm. The slant edge of the pyramid is cm and the height of
2
the cuboid is (10  2x) cm, where 0 < x < 5.
(a) Let h cm be the height of the solid. Show that h = 10  x.
(3 marks)
3
(b) Let V cm be the volume of the solid.
5 3
(i) Show that V = 10x2  x.
3
(c)
7 cm
3.5 cm
3.5 cm
Figure 4(b)
The solid is placed COMPLETELY inside a rectangular box as shown in Figure 4(b).
The base of the box is a square of side 3.5 cm and the height of the box is 7 cm.
(i) Show that 3  x  3.5.
144
HKCEE Additional Mathematics 95p1:9(a)(c)(i)

9.
hm
C
1m
A B
Figure 2
A small lamp O is placed h m above the ground, where 1 < h  5. Vertically below the
lamp is the centre of a round table of radius 2 m and height 1 m. The lamp casts a shadow
ABC of the table on the ground (see Figure 2). Let S m2 be the area of the shadow.
4h 2
(a) Show that S = .
(h  1) 2
(3 marks)
3
(c) Let V m be the volume of the cone OABC.
4h3
(i) Show that V = .
3(h  1) 2
7.
42o T
U S
P
Q R
Figure 2
In Figure 2, VPQRST is a right pyramid whose base PQRST is a regular pentagon.
PQ = 10 cm and ∠PVQ = 42°. U is a point on VQ such that PU is perpendicular to VQ.
Find, correct to 3 significant figures,
(a) PU and PR,
(b) the angle between the faces VPQ and VQR.
(7 marks)
145

11.
x
h
x
x
Figure 3(a) Figure 3(b)

Figure 3(a) shows a vessel with a capacity of 24 cubic units. The length of the vessel is l
and its vertical cross-section is an equilateral triangle of side x. The vessel is made of thin
metal plates and has no lid. Let S be the total area of metal plates used to make the vessel.
3 2 64 3
(a) Show that S = x + .
2 x
(4 marks)
13.
SOUP h cm
x cm
Figure 6
A food company produces cans of instant soup. Each can is in the form of a right cylinder
with a base radius of x cm and a height of h cm (see Figure 6) and its capacity is V cm3,
where V is constant. The cans are made of thin metal sheets. The cost of the curved surface
of the can is 1 cent per cm2 and the cost of the plane surfaces is k cents per cm2. Let C cents
be the production cost of one can. For economic reasons, the value of C is minimised.
(a) Express h in terms of π, x and V.
2V
Hence show that C = + 2πkx2.
x
(3 marks)
146
11.
H N
hm
D rmG
 
O
A 10 B C
o
E
lm
Figure 5
Figure 5 shows a right cylindrical tower with a radius of r m standing on horizontal ground.
A vertical pole HG, h m in height, stands at the centre G of the roof of the tower. Let O be
the centre of the base of the tower. C is a point on the circumference of the base o the tower
due west of O and D is a point on the roof vertically above C. A man stands at a point A due
west of O. The angles of elevation of D and H from A are 10° and β respectively. The
man walks towards the east to a point B where he can just see the top of the pole H as
shown in Figure 5. (Note: If he moves forward, he can no longer see the pole.) The angle of
elevation of H from B is α. Let AB = l m.
l sin 
(a) Show that AD = m.
sin(  10)
Hence (i) express CD in terms of l and α.
l sin 2  sin(   10)
(ii) show that h = .
sin(  10) sin(   )
(Hint: You may consider Δ ADH.)
(6 marks)
(b) In this part, numerical answers should be given correct to two significant figures.
Suppose α = 15°,β = 10.2° and l = 97.
(i)
Find
(1) the height of the pole HG,
(2) the height and radius of the tower.
(ii) P is a point south-west of O. Another man standing at P can just see the top of the
pole H. Find
(1) the distance of P from O,
(2) the bearing of B from P. (10 marks)
3.
147
r cm
Figure 1
Figure 1 shows a container (without a lid) consisting of a thin hollow hemisphere of radius
r cm joined to the bottom of a right circular cylindrical thin pipe of base radius r cm. It is
known that the area of the outer surface of the container is 162πcm2.
r 3
(a) Prove that the capacity of the container is (81πr  ) cm 3 .
3
[Hint: The volume and the surface area of a sphere of radius r cm are
4
πr 3 cm 3 and 4πr 2 cm 2 respectively, while the volume and the curved
3
surface area of a right circular cylinder of base radius r cm and height h cm
areπr 2 h cm 3 and 2πrh cm 2 respectively.]
148
13.6B Find the angle between two lines

15. (a)
x y
O
P Q
Figure 2(a)
Figure 2(a) shows a pyramid OPQR. The sides OP, OQ and OR are of lengths x,
y and z respectively, and they are mutually perpendicular to each other.
(i) Express cos∠PRQ in terms of x, y and z.
(ii) Let S 1 , S 2 , S 3 and S 4 denote the areas of ΔOPR, ΔOPQ, ΔOQR and
ΔPQR respectively. Show that
S42 = S12 + S22 + S32.
(6 marks)
(b)
E H
F G
D C
2
3
A 4 B
Figure 2(b)
Figure 2(b) shows a rectangular block ABCDEFGH. The lengths of sides AB,
BC and AF are 4, 3 and 2 respectively. A pyramid ABCG is cut from the block
along the plane GAC.
(i) Find the vlume of the pyramid ABCG.
(ii) Find the angle between the side AB and the plane GAC, giving your
answer correct to the nearest degree.
(6 marks)
149
13.6C Find the angle between a line and a plane

12.
C D
ks E F
45o
s
B s A
The figure shows a path AXD on the inclined plane ABCD. AX and XD are straight lines.
The inclined plane is at 45° to the horizontal plane ABEF. Let AB = AF = s, BX = ks, and
be the angle between AX and the horizontal.
(a) Express the length of AX in terms of s and k.
(b) Express sinα in terms of k.
(c) If the inclination of AX to the horizontal is not to exceed 30°, find the range of values
of k.
Hence, or otherwise, determine the range of values of k so that each of the inclinations
of AX and XD to the horizontal does not exceed 30°.
10.
E
D C
H

N
A G
k
F
rk
B
Figure 2
In Figure 2, ABCDE is a right pyramid with a square base ABCD. Each of the right edges of
the pyramid is of length k. F, G and H are points on AB, AC and AD, respectively, such that
FGH is a straight line and BF = DH = rk, where 0  r  1. EG  HF, ∠EGC = θ
and N is the foot of the perpendicular from E to the base.
(a) Express FE2 and FG2 in terms of k and r.
(8 marks)
150
(b) Express EG and EN in terms of k and r.

1
Hence, or otherwise, show that sinθ =
1 r2
(8 marks)
(c) Using the result of (b), find the range of the inclination of the plane EFH to the base as
r varies from 0 to 1.
(4 marks)

8.
D C
N
x
a
E 
F
M
A a
B
Figure 2
Figure 2 shows a tent consisting of two inclined square planes ABCD and EFCD standing
on the horizontal ground ABFE. The length of each side of the inclined planes is a. N is a
point on CF such that AN  CF. Let NF = x (  0), ∠CFB = θ and M be a point on BF
such that NM  BF.
(a) By considering ΔABM, express AM in terms of a, x and θ.
(4 marks)
(a) By considering ΔANF, express AN in terms of a, x and θ.
(5 marks)
2
(c) Using the results of (a) and (b), or otherwise, show that x = 2acos θ.
(5 marks)
a
(d) Given that x = , find (correct to the nearest degree) the inclination of AN to the
2
horizontal.
(6 marks)
151

9.
NORTH B
P
EAST
o
 o
c metres R
o
Q
Figure 2
A balloon B is observed simultaneously from two points P and Q on a horizontal ground, P
being at a distance c metres due north of Q. The bearings of the balloon from P and Q are S
α°E and Nβ°E respectively. The angle of elevation of B from P is θ°. R is the projection
of B on the ground (see Figure 2).
(a) Show that the balloon is at a height h metres where
c tan  o sin  o
h= .
sin( o   o )
(6 marks)
(b) Given θ = 40, α = 54 and β = 46,
(i) find the angle of elevation of B from Q;
(ii) find the angle of elevation and the bearing of B from M, where M is the mid-point
of PQ.
(14 marks)
152

17.
X
3.5 m E
H
F D C
G
4m
D C
A 10 m
1.5 m 5m 30 m B A B
P Q P Q
Figure 8 Figure 9
In Figure 8, ABCDEFGH is a building standing on horizontal ground. The building is in the
shape of a rectangular block with AB = 30 m, BC = 10 m and CH = 4 m. XE is a pole of
length 3.5 m standing vertically at E. There is a straight road on the ground, which is
parallel to and at a distance of 5 m from AB. DA produced meets the road at point P and DB
produced meets the road at point Q. Philip stands at P. His eyes J are at 1.5 m above the
ground. Figure 9 shows the base plane of the building.
(a) In this part, numbericalanswers should be correct to the nearest degree.
(i) Find the angle of elevation of F from J.
(ii) Find the angle the line JX makes with the horizontal.
Hence, or otherwise, explain why Philip cannot see the pole when he stands at P.
(5 marks)
DT
(b) Let S be a point on PQ. DS cuts AB at a point T. Find .
DS
Hence, or otherwise, explain why Philip cannot see the pole no matter where he stands
on the road PQ.
(7 marks)
153

17 (a)
5 C
A
r O
6 7
B
Figure 7
ABC is a triangle with AB = 6, BC = 7 and CA = 5. A circle is inscribed in the triangle

(see Figure 7). Let O be the centre of the circle and r be its radius.
(i) Find the area of ΔABC.
2 6
(ii) By considering the areas of ΔAOB, ΔBOC and ΔCOA, show that r = .
3
(4 marks)
(b)
V
A
O
B
Figure 8
VABC is a tetrahedron with the ΔABC described in (a) as the base (see Figure 8).
Furthermore, point O is the foot of perpendicular from V to the plane ABC. It is given
that the angle between the planes VAB and ABC is 60°.
(i) Find the volume of the tetrahedron VABC.
(ii) Find the area of ΔVBC.
(iii) Find the angle between the side AB and the plane VBC, giving your answer
correct to the nearest degree.
(8 marks)
154

18.
hm
45o K
A 30o
B
C D
E
Figure 10
Figure 10 shows a park AED on a horizontal ground. The park is in the form of a
right-angled triangle surrounded by a walking path with negligible width. Henry walks
along the path at a constant speed. He starts from point A at 7:00 am. He reaches points B, C
and D at 7:10 am, 7:15 am and 7:30 am respectively and returns to A via point E. The
angles of elevation of H, the top of a tower outside the park, from A and D are 45° and 30°
respectively. At point B, Henry is closest to the point K which is the projection of H on the
ground. Let HK = h m.
(a) Express DK in terms of h.
(1 mark)
2
(b) Show that AB = h m.
3
(3 marks)
(c) Find the angle of elevation of H from C correct to the nearest degree.
(3 marks)
2
(d) Henry returns to A at 8:10am. It is knownthat the area of the park is 9450 m .
(i) Find h.
(ii) A vertical pole of length 3 m is located such that it is equidistant from A, D and E.
Find the angle of elevation of H from the top of the pole correct to nearest degree.
(5 marks)
155

17. [Note: In this equation, numerical answers may be given correct to 3 significant
figures.]
Three faces of a tetrahedron (see Figure 13) are formed by folding a triangular
piece of paper ABC, where AB = AC = 11 cm,∠BAC = 120° and AD is an altitude
(see Figure 10), with the following steps.
11 cm 120o 11 cm
B C
D
Figure 10
Step 1: Fold AB over so that AB coincides with AD, then creased line AE(see Figure 11).
(a) Calculate the length AE and the area of ΔABE.

(3 marks)
156
Step 2 : Fold AC over so that AC coincides with AE, then crease line AF(see Figure 12).
(b) Calculate the length of AF.

(3 marks)
Step 3: Unfold the paper. Then fold the paper along AE and AF such that AB coincides
with AC completely (see Figure 13).
(c) It is known that the volume of the tetrahedron is 22.582 cm 3 (correct to 5

signicnant figures.)
(i) Find the angle between the line AF and the plane ABE in the tetrahedron.
(ii) Find the angle between the planes Δ ABE and Δ ABF in the tetrahedron.
(6 marks)
157
13.6D Find the angle between two planes

6.
P
C B
60o
D 4 cm A
Figure 1
In Figure 1, PABCD is a right pyramid with a square base of sides of length 4 cm.
∠PAB = 60°. Find, correct to the nearest 0.1 degree,
(a) the angle between the plane PAB and the base ABCD,
(b) the angle between the planes PAB and PAD.
(7 marks)
7.
V
C Y B
D 6 cm A
Figure 2
In Figure 2, VABCD is a right pyramid with a square base of side 6 cm. VB = 9 cm. Find,
correct to the nearest degree.
(a) the angle between edge VB and the base ABCD,
(b) the angle between the planes VAB and VAD.
(8 marks)
158

7.
V
24 cm
D
C
A B
12 cm
Figure 2
In Figure 2, VABC is a right pyramid whose base ABC is an equilateral triangle. AB = 12 cm
and VA = 24 cm. D is a point on VB such that AD is perpendicular to VB. Find, correct to 3
significant figures,
(a) ∠VBA and AD,
(b) the angle between the faces VAB and VBC.
(7 marks)
159

12.
A
2
30o 45o
C D B
Figure 5(a)
In Figure 5(a), ABC is a triangular piece of paper such that ∠B = 45°, C = 30° and AC = 2.
D is the foot of perpendicular from ABC.
(a) Find AB, BD and DC.
(3 marks)
(b)
D C
A
2 E
B
D A
C E
B
Figure 5(b) Figure 5(c)

The paper is folded along AD. It is then placd on a horizontal table such that the edges
AB and AC lie on the table and the plane DAB is vertical. (See Figure 5(b).) E is the
foot of perpendicular from D to AB.
(i) If θ is the angle between DC and the horizontal, show that
6
sinθ= .
6
(ii) Find CE. Hence show that ∠EAC = 45°.
(iii) Find the angle between the two planes DAB and DAC to the nearest degree.
[Hint : You may use a ruler to tear off Figure 5(c) to help you answer part (b).]
(13 marks)
160

13. (a)
D
A C
M
a B
E
F H
a a
G
Figure 5(a)
Figure 5(a) shows a solid cube ABCDEFGH of side a. Let M be the mid-point of BD.
(i) Find CM.
(ii) Find the angle between the lines CM and HM to the nearest degree.
(4 marks)
(b)
a N D
B
a
E
F H
a a
G
Figure 5(b)
The tetrahedron BCDH is cut off from the cube in (a) and is then placed on top of the
solid ABDEFGH as shown in Figure 5(b). The face BCD of the tetrahedron coincides
with the face BAD of the solid ABDEFGH such that vertex H of the tetrahedron moves
to positive V and vertex C coincides with A. The two faces BHD and BVD of the new
solid lie on the same plane.
3
(i) Show that sin∠FVH = and find the perpendicular distance from F to the face
3
BVDH.
(ii) Let N be the point on VB such that DN and AN are both perpendicular to VB.
161
(1) Find DN.

(2) Find the angle between the faces BVD and BCA to the nearest degree.
(iii) A student says that the angle between the faces BHD and ABGF is ∠AND.
Explain briefly whether the student is correct.
(12 marks)

17.
B
D
Figure 11
Figure 11 shows a tetrahedron ABCD such that AB = 28, CD = 30, AC = AD = 25 and
BC = BD = 40. F is the foot of perpendicular from C to AD.
(a) Find ∠BFC, giving your answer correct to the nearest degree.
(8 marks)
(b) A student says that ∠BFC represents the angle between the planes ACD and ABD.
Explain whether the student is correct or not.
(4 marks)
162

18. (a)
Q O
X
P
Figure 4
Figure 4 shows a tetrahedron OPQR with RO perpendicular to the plane OPQ. Let θ be
the angle between the planes RPQ and OPQ. Show that
Area of OPQ
= cosθ.
Area of RPQ
(4 marks)
(b)
Sun rays
C
2m
B E
Figure 5
In Figure 5, a pole of length 2 m is erected vertically at a point E on the horizontal
ground. A triangular board ABC of area 12 m2 is supported by the pole such that side
AB touches the ground and vertex C is fastened to the top of the pole. AB = 6 m, BC =
x m and CA = y m, where 6 > x > y. The sun rays are vertical and cast a shadow of the
board on the ground.
(i) Find the area of the shadow.
(ii) Two other ways of supporting the board with the pole are to fasten vertex A or B
to the top of the pole with the opposite side touching the ground. Among these
three ways, determine which one will give the largest shadow.
(8 marks)
163

11.
O
3 120o
5
A C
12
B
Figure 4
In Figure 4, OABC is a pyramid such that OA = 3, OB = 5, BC = 12, ∠AOC = 120° and
∠OAB = ∠OBC = 90°.
(a) Find AC.
(b) A student says that the angle between the planes OBC and ABC can be represented by
∠OBA.
Determine whether the student is correct or not.
(6 marks)
164

14. (a)
A
X
Figure 5
Figure 5 shows a tetrahedron with CB perpendicular to the plane ABX.
Suppose AX  XB, prove that AX  XC.
(3 marks)
(b)
D 3 2m
1m 135o C
F X
Figure 6
Figure 6 shows two rectangular display boards ABCD and ADEF, both perpendicular
to the ground. FXB is a straight line and AX  FB. ACX and AEX are two wooden
boards supporting the display boards. It is given that CD = 3 2 m, DE = 1 m and
∠CDE = 135°.
21
(i) Show that XB = m.
5
7
(ii) Let θ be the angle between the boards ACX and AEX. If EF = m, find tanθ.
5
(9 marks)
165

16.
V
A
C
2 cm
B
Figure 5
Figure 5 shows a triangular pyramid VABC. The base of the pyramid is a right-angled
triangle with AB = 2 cm and ∠BCA = 90°. ΔVAB and ΔVAC are equilateral triangles.
(a) Explain why the angle between the planes VAB and ABC cannot be represented by
∠VAC.
(1 mark)
(b) Let D and E be the mid-points of AB and BC respectively.
(i) Show that the angle between the planes VAB and ABC can be represented by
∠VDE.
(ii) Show that ∠VED = 90°.
(7 marks)
(c) Find the distance between the point C and the plane VAB.
(4 marks)
12.
D
B
2
C
Figure 3
In Figure 3, ABCD is a regular tetrahedron with length of each side 2.
Find the angle between the planes ABC and BCD correct to the nearest degree.
(5 marks)
166
13.6E Find the line of greatest slope

12.
a
D C
2a
M
60o E
A 3a B
Figure 3(a)
In Figure 3(a), ABCD is a parallelogram on a horizontal plane with AB = 3a, AD = 2a and
∠BAD = 60°. H is a point vertically above C and HC = a.
(a) (i) Find AC in terms of a.
(ii) If M is the mid-point of AC, find the angle of elevation of H from M to the nearest
degree.
(4 marks)
(b) E is a point on BD such that CE is perpendicular to BD.
(i) Find BD and CE in terms of a.
(ii) Using Pythagoras’s theorem and its converse, show that HE is perpendicular to
BD.
Hence find the angle between the planes HBD and ABCD to the nearest degree.
(9 marks)
(c)
D C
A B
Figure 3(b)
Figure 3(b) shows the planes HAD and ABCD. X is a point lying on both planes such that the
angle between the two planes is ∠HXC. Find AX in terms of a.
(3 marks)
167
Data Handling Strand
Chapter 14: Permutation and combination

14.3 Solve problems on the permutation of distinct objects without repetition
5. From the figures 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7, how many 4-digit numbers can be formed with no
figure being used more than once in each number?
Of these 4-digit numbers formed, how many are divisible by 3?

(6 marks)
168
14.4 Understand the concept and notation of combination

4. Let k and n be non-negative integers.
k 1
Prove that (a) C kn = C kn11 , where 0  k  n
n 1
9. (a) Show that C r + C r 1 = C rn11 where n, r are positive integers and n  r + 1.
n n
(2 marks)
2. For any positive integer n, let C kn be the coefficient of xk in the expansion of (1 + x)n.
(a) Evaluate C1n + C 2n + C3n + ... + C nn .

2. For any two positive integers k and n, let Tr be the rth term in the expansion of (1 + x)kn in
ascending powers of x, i.e. Tr = C rkn1 x n1 .
2
(a) Suppose x = . Find, in terms of k and n, the range of values of r such that Tr + 1  Tr.
k
2
(b) Suppose x = . Using the result of (a), find the greatest term in the expansion of (1 + x)51.
3
(6 marks)
1. For any positive integer n, denote the coefficient of xk in the expansion of (1 + x)n by C kn .
(a) Prove that

(i) n(1 + x)n  1 = C1n + 2C2nx + 3C3nx2 + ... + nCnnxn  1.
1. Denote the coefficient of x in the expansion of (1 + x)n by Ckn.
k
(a) Let m be a non-negative integer with m  n. Using (1 + x)m(1 + x)n = (1 + x)m + n,

m
prove that C
k 0
m
k Crnk = Crmn for all r = m, m + 1, ..., n.
99
C
k 0
99
k Ck100
1
(b) Using (a), or otherwise, evaluate 99
.
C
k 0
99
k C 101
k
169

1. It is known that for any positive integer n, the coefficient of x k in the expansion of
(1 + x) n is Ckn .
(a) Prove that Ckn + Ckn1 = Ckn11 for all k = 0, 1, ..., n  1.
170
Chapter 15: More about probability

15.0 Simple calculation of probabilities
3.
C
Up
Forward
A Right
Figure 1
Jack climbs along a cubical framework from a corner A to meet Jill at the opposite corner B.
The framework, shown in Figure 1, is formed by joining bars of equal length. Jack chooses
randomly a path of the shortest length to meet Jill. An example of such a path, which can be
denoted by
Right - Up - Forward - Up - Right - Forward,
is also shown in Figure 1.
(a) Find the number of shortest paths from A to B.
(b) If there is a trap at the centre C of the framework which catches anyone passing
through it,
(i) find the number of shortest paths from A to C,
(ii) hence find the probability that Jack will be caught by the trap on his way to B.
(5 marks)
3. A teacher wants to divide a class of 18 students into 3 groups, each of 6 students, to do 3
different statistical projects.
(a) In how many ways can the students be grouped?
(b) If there are 3 girls in the class, find the probability that there is one girl in each group.
(6 marks)
171

8. There are several bags on a table each containing six cards numbered 0, 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5
respectively.
(a) (i) Find the coefficient of x5 in the expansion of
(1 + x + x2 + x3 + x4 + x5)2.
(ii) John takes two bags away from the table and randomly draws a card from each of
them. Using (a)(i), or otherwise, find the probability that the sum of the numbers
on the two cards drawn is 5.
(4 marks)
5. Ten seats are arranged in a row for 10 students from 3 different schools. There are 2
students from school A, 4 from school B and 4 from school C. Assume that students from
the same school are indistinguishable.
(a) Find the number of ways in which these 10 students can take the seats.
(b) Find the probability that the 2 students from school A are sitting next to each other.
(5 marks)
11. In a game, two boxes A and B each contains n balls which are numbered 1, 2, …, n. A
player is asked to draw a ball randomly from each box. If the number drawn from box A is
greater than that from box B, the player wins a prize.
(a) Find the probability that the two numbers drawn are the same.
(1 mark)
(b) Let p be the probability that a player wins the prize.
(i) Find, interms of p only, the probability that the number drawn from box B is
greater than that from box A.
(ii) Using the result of (i), express p in terms of n.
(iii) If the above game is designed so that at least 46% of the players win the prize,
find the least value of n.
(6 marks)
(c) Two winners, John and Mary, are selected to play another game. They take turns to
throw a fair six-sided die. The first player who gets a number ‘6’ wins the game. John
will throw the die first.
(i) Find the probability that John will win the game on his third throw.
(ii) Find the probability that John will win the game.
(iii) Given that Mary has won the game, find the probability that Mary did not win the
game before her third throw.
(8 marks)
172
HKASL MATHEMATICS AND STATISTICS 07:6,

6. David has 10 shirts and 3 bags:
1 blue shirt,
4 yellow shirts,
5 white shirts,
1 yellow bag and
2 white bags.
He randomly chooses 3 shirts from the 10 shirts and randomly puts the chosen shirts into 3
bags so that each bag contains 1 shirt.
(a) Find the probability that the yellow bag contains the blue shirt and each of the two
white bags contains 1 yellow shirt.
(b) Find the probability that each of these three bags contains 1 shirt of a colour different
from the bag.
(6 marks)
HKAL Applied Mathematics 96p2:3
3. Records shown that among all car theft cases in Hong Kong, 30% occurred on Hong Kong
island, 20% in Kowloon and 50% in the New Territories, the probabilities that a car stolen
in these three districts can be recovered are respectively 0.45, 0.35 and 0.25.
(a) Find the probability that a stolen can be recovered.
(b) Suppose that two cars were stolen and that the two cases were independent of each
other.
(i) Find the probability that the two cases occurred in the same district.
(ii) Given that the two cases occurred in the same district, find the probability that
both cars can be recovered.
(6 marks)
173

4. Albert, Bobby and six other players take part in a table-tennis knock-out tournament. The
winner of each match can proceed to the next round as shown in Figure 1 and the loser is
knocked out. The players are randomly assigned to the eight positions in the first round.
Suppose the eight players are equally skilful.
Champion
Third round
Second round
First round
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
Figure 1
(a) What is the probability that Albert will play with Bobby in the first round?
(b) What is the probability that Albert will ever play with Bobby in a match during the
tournament?
(6 marks)
HKAL Applied Mathematics 98p2:10(a)(b)
10. Mr. Hon participates in the follinwg infund-raisinggame for a charity:
He randomly draws a ball from a box containing one red ball and four white balls. The ball
is put back into the box after its colour is recorded. He repeats this process until a ball of the
other colour is drawn. Mr. Hon promises to donate a certain sum to the charty depending on
the number of balls he has drawn.
(a) Find the probability that Mr. Hon has to draw four while balls and one red ball.
(2 marks)
4n 1  4
(b) Show that the probability that Mr. Hon has to draw n balls is , where n is an
5n
integer greater than 1.
(2 marks)
174
15.2B-CUnderstand the concepts of (B) mutually exclusive events and (C)

complementary events
9. Lottery-A has a total of 400 tickets available for sale in each draw and four prizes are to be
given. Lottery-B has a total of 1000 tickets available for sale in each draw and eight prizes
are to be given. The two lotteries are independent of each other. In each lottery, every ticket
can win at most one prize and each ticket has an equal chance of winning a prize.
(a) Suppose (I) the first prize for Lottery-A is $5 000 and the other three prizes are $500
each, and
(II) the first prize for Lottery-B is $20 000, two second prizes are $3 000
each, and the other five prizes are $c each.
The selling price of a Lottery- B ticket is twice that of a Lottery-A ticket. If the
expected amount of money won per dollar paid for buying Lottery-A tickets is the
same as that for Lottery-B, find c.
(4 marks)
(b) Mr. Chan buys one Lottery-A ticket and three Lottery-B tickets.
(i) Find the probability that Mr. Chan will win no prize.
(ii) Find the probability that Mr. Chan will win exactly one prize.
(6 marks)
(c) Suppose that a draw for each lottery is held once a week. Miss. Wong buys one
Lottery-A ticket and three Lottery-B tickets every week until she wins at least
one prize. She then stops buying any lottery tickets. Find the probability that
she wins more than one prize.
(5 marks)
175
15.3A Understand the multiplication law of probability

1. A and B are two independent events. If P(A) = 0.4 and P(A  B) = 0.7, find P(B).
(4 marks)
12. A teacher randomly selected 7 students from a class of 13 boys and 17 girls to form a group
to take part in a flag-selling activity.
(a) Find the probability that the group consists of at least 1 boy and 1 girl.
(3 marks)
(b) Given that the group consists of at least 1 boy and 1 girl, find the probability that there
are more than 3 girls in the group.
(3 marks)
(c) A group of 3 boys and 4 girls is formed. It is known that the amount of money
collected by a boy and a girl in the activity can be modeled respectively by normal
distributions with the following means and standard deviations:
Student Mean Standard deviation
Boy $673 $100
Girl $708 $100
Any student who collects more than $800 receives a certificate.
(i) Find the probability that a particular boy in the group will receive a certificate.
(ii) Find the probability that exactly 1 boy and 1 girl in the group will receive
certificates.
(iii) Given that the group has received 2 certificates, find the probability that exactly 1
boy and 1 girl received the certificates.
(9 marks)
HKASL MATHEMATICS AND STATISTICS 04:1(a)(b)(i)
1. A and B are two events. Suppose that P(A) = 0.75 and P(B) = 0.8. Let P(A  B) = k.
(a) Express P(A  B) in terms of k.
(b) (i) Prove that 0.55  k  1.
4. A and B are two events. A' and B' are the complementary events of A and B respectively.
1 9 1
Suppose P(A) = , P(A  B) = , P(A|B) = and P(B) = k, where 0 < k < 1.
5 20 6
(a) Using P(A|B), express P(A  B) in terms of k.
(b) Find the value of k.
(c) Find P(A'  B').
(d) Are the two events A' and B' mutually exclusive? Explain your answer.
(7 marks)
176

27 27
5. Let A and B be two events. It is given that P(A) = a, P(B'|A) = and P(A|B') = .
32 31
(a) Find P(A  B') in terms of a.
(b) Find P(B) in terms of a.
(c) It is given that P(A  B) = 0.1.
(i) Find the value of a.
(ii) Determine whether A and B are independent or not.
(7 marks)
177
15.3B Understand the concept of independent events

8. A department store uses a machine to offer prizes for customers by playing games A or B.
5 5
The probability of a customer winning a prize in game A is and that in game B is .
9 6
Suppose each time the machine randomly generates either game A or game B with
probability 0.3 and 0.7 respectively.
(a) Find the probability of a customer winning a prize in 1 trial.
(b) The department store wants to adjust the probabilities of generating game A and game
2
B so that the probability of a customer winning a prize in 1 trial is . Find the
3
probabilities of generating game A and game B respectively.
(6 marks)
13. Boys B1, B2 and girls G1, G2 are students who have qualified to represent their school in a
singing contest. One boy and one girl will form one team. The team formed by Bi and Gj is
denoted by BiGj, where i = 1, 2 and j = 1, 2. A team can entre the second round of the
contest if both team members do not make any mistakes during their performance. Suppose
that a student making mistakes in a performance is an independent event, and the
probabilities that B1, B2, G1 and G2 do not make any mistakes in a performance are 0.9, 0.7,
0.8 and 0.6 respectively.
(a) List all the possible teams that can be formed.
(1 mark)
(b) Find the probability that B1G1 can entre the second round of the contest.
(1 mark)
(c) If a team is selected randomly to represent the school, find the probability that the team
can enter the second round of the contest.
(2 marks)
(d) If two teams B1G1 and B2G2 are formed to represent the school, find the probability
that
(i) exactly one team can entre the second round of the contest,
(ii) at least one team can enter the second round of the contest.
(5 marks)
(e) Suppose that two teams are allowed to represent the school and each student can only
join one team.
(i) If the two teams are formed randomly, find the probability that exactly one team
can enter the second round of the contest.
(ii) How should the teams be formed so that the school has a better chance of having
at least one team that can enter the second round of the contest? (6 marks)
178

3. A researcher modeled the number of bacteria N(t) in a sample t hours after the beginning of
his observation by N(t) = 900 a kt , where a (>0) and k are constants. He observed and
recorded the following data:
t (in hours) 0.5 1.0 2.0 3.0
N(t) 1100 1630 2010 2980
The researcher made one mistake when writing down the data for N(t).
Express ln N(t) as a linear function of t and use the graph paper on Page 2 to determine
which one of the data was incorrect, and estimate the value of N(2.5) correct to 3 significant
figures.
(4 marks)
HKASL MATHEMATICS AND STATISTICS 03:8(a)(b)
8. According to the past production record, an oil company manager modeled the rate of
change of the amount of oil production in thousand barrels by
f(t) = 5 + 2 kt  h ,
where h and k are positive constants and t (  0) is the time measured in months.
(a) Express ln( f(t)  5) as a linear function of t.
(1 mark)
(b) Given that the slope an the intercept on the vertical axis of the graph of the linear
function in (a) are 0.35 and 1.39 respectively, find the values of h and k correct to 1
decimal place.
(2 marks)
3. A population consists of seven numbers, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7, whose probability distribution
is as follows:
Number 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Probability 0.15 0.02 0.36 0.04 0.26 0.04 0.13
A number is drawn from the population according to the above probability distribution.
(a) Define the following events:
E: The outcome is an odd number.
F: The outcome is a multiple of 3.
(i) Find P(E), P(F) and P(E  F).
(ii) Are the two events E and F independent? Explain briefly.
(b) Find the expected value of this number.
(7 marks)
179

5. X and Y are two independent random variables with the following probability distributions:
x 1 2 3 4 5 6 y 1 2 3 4 5
1 1 1 1 1 1 3 1 1 1
P(X = x) P(Y = y) a a
6 6 6 6 6 6 5 10 10 5
Let E1 be the event {X  Y  4} and E2 be the event {X + Y = 6}.
(a) Find P(E1) in terms of a.
5a
(b) If E1 has occurred, show that the probability that E2 has also occurred is .
3  5a
(c) If E1 and E2 are independent, find the value of a.
(7 marks)
4.
North
B
A East
Figure 1
Andy would like to bring his camera to a maintenance centre nearby. Figure 1 shows a
network of roads from Andy’s home (A) to the centre (C). Assume that he can only go either
east or north at each junction (such as B).
(a) How many routes from A to C can Andy choose?
(b) Once Andy arrives at a junction, the probability that he goes north is 0.3.
(i) Find the probability that Andy will arrive at C.
(ii) Find the probability that Andy will arrive at C without passing the junction B.
(5 marks)
10. A loaded dice has 6 sides numbered 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 and 6 respectively. In a game, John
throws the dice at most ten times. He wins the game if the 6 does not appear on the first
throw but appears at least once within the next 9 throws. On each of his throws, the
probability that the 6 does not appear is denoted by q. The dice is loaded in such a way that
John has a probability 0.5 of winning the game.
(a) Show that q is a root of the equation
2x10  2x + 1 = 0.
(3 marks)
180

10.
START A B C WIN
Figure 1
A children’s game is played with the board shown in Figure 1 and a special fair six-sided
dice with a ‘1’ on each of three sides, a ‘2’ on each of two other sides and a ‘3’ on the
remaining side. At the beginning of the game, a player has to put a chess piece at ‘START’.
In each round of the game, the player throws the dice and then moves the piece according to
the rules below.
* The number of steps the piece to be moved should equal the number shown on the
dice.
* If the number of steps the piece to be moved is not more than that needed to reach
‘WIN’, the piece should be moved towards ‘WIN’; otherwise, the piece should be
moved towards ‘WIN’ and then one step away from ‘WIN’.
(For example, suppose the piece is now at ‘B’ and the player rolls a ‘3’. According
to this rule, the player has to move the piece two steps towards ‘WIN’ and then
one step away from ‘WIN’. The piece will thus be at ‘C’.)
* If the player’s piece stops at ‘WIN’, then the game will end.
(a) Owen is allowed to play not more than four rounds. Suppose he rolls a ‘2’ in the first
round.
(i) Find the probability that the piece will stop at ‘WIN’.
(ii) Find the expected number of rounds played by Owen.
(8 marks)
(b) Vanessa is allowed to play until her piece stops at ‘WIN’. If her piece moves from ‘C’
to ‘WIN’ in the winning round, then she will get a special prize. Let pA, pB and pC be
the probabilities that Vanessa will get a special prize given that her piece is at ‘A’, ‘B’
and ‘C’ respectively.
(i) Express pB in terms of pC.
(ii) Find the values of pB and pC.
(iii) Find the probability that Vanessa will get a special prize.
(7 marks)
181

1. In a city, there is a helicopter flying from Station 1 to Station2, then from Station 2 to
Station 3, …, and finally from Station 14 to Station 15. The helicopter can carry at most 1
passenger. There is no passenger befor arriving at Station 1.
For n = 1, 2, …, 13, define
 a single-flight passenger as a passenger getting on the helicopter at Station n and
getting off the helicopter at Station (n + 1)
 a double-flight passenger as a passenger getting on the helicopter at Station n and
getting off the helicopter at Station (n + 2)
 Pn as the probability that someone gets on the helicopter at Station n.
At any station except stations 14 and 15,
1
 the probability that no one is waiting for the helicopter when it arrives is
4
 the probability that anyone waiting for the helicopter will be a single-flight and
2 1
double-flight passenger are and respectively.
3 3
 assume independence among the events mentionsed above.
(a) Show
9
(i) P2 =
16
1
(ii) Pn = (3  Pn  1), for n = 2, 3, …, 13
4
3   1 
h
(iii) Pn = 1     , for n = 2, 3, …, 13
5   4  
(7 marks)
(b) Consider n = 4, 5, …, 14.
(i) Find the probability that there is a passenger in the helicopter when it flies from
Station (n  1) to Station n.
(ii) Show that the probability that someone gets on the helicopter at Station (n  2)
and there is a passenger in the helicopter when it flies from Station (n  1) to
Station n is
1   1 
n 2
1    .
2   4  
(iii) Given that there is a passenger in the helicopter when it flies from Station (n  1)
to Station n, find the probability that there is a passenger in the helicopter when it
flies from Station (n  2) to Station (n  1).
182
15.4 Conditional probability

15.4A Recognise the concept, notation and rule of conditional
probability
7. In asking some sensitive questions such as “Are you homosexual?”, a randomized response
technique can be applied: The interviewee will be asked to draw a card at random from a
box with one red and two black cards and then considerthe statement ‘I am homosexual’ if
the card is red and the statement ‘I am not homosexual’ otherwise. He will give the response
either ‘True’ or ‘False’. The colour of the card drawn is only known to the interviewee so
that nobody knows which statement he has responded to. Suppose in a survey, 790 out of
1200 interviewees give the response ‘True’.
(a) Estimate the percentage of persons who are homosexual.
(b) For an interviewee who answered ‘True’, what is the probability that he is really
homosexual?
(7 marks)
5. An insurance company classifies the aeroplanes it insures into class L (low risk) and class H
(high risk), and estimates the corresponding proportions of the aeroplanes as 70% and 30%
respectively. The company has also found that 99% of class L and 88% of class H
aeroplanes have no accident within a year. If an aeroplane insured by the company has no
accident within a year, what is the probability that it belongs to
(a) class H?
(b) class L?
(7 marks)
7. A brewery has a backup motor for its bottling machine. The backup motor will be
automatically turned on if the original motor breaks down during operating hours. The
probability that the original motor breaks down during operating hours is 0.15 and when the
backup motor is turned on, it has a probability of 0.24 of breaking down. Only when both
the original and backup motors break down is the machine not able to work.
(a) What is the probability that the machine is not working during operating hours?
(b) If the machine is working, what is the probability that it is operated by the original
motor?
(c) The machine is working today. Find the probability that the first break down of the
machine occurs on the 10th day after today.
(7 marks)
183

6. A factory produces 3 kinds of ice-cream bars A, B and C in the ratio 1 : 2 : 5. It was
reported that some ice-cream bars produced on 1 May, 1998 were contaminated. All
ice-cream bars produced on that day were withdrawn from sale and a test was carried out.
The test results showed that 0.8% of kind A, 0.2% of kind B and 0% of kind C were
contaminated.
(a) An ice-cream bar produced on that day is selected randomly. Find the probability that
(i) the bar is of kind A and is NOT contaminated.
(ii) the bar is NOT contaminated.
(b) If an ice-cream bar produced on that day is contaminated, find the probability that it is
of kind A.
(6 marks)
HKASL MATHEMATICS AND STATISTICS 99:7,
7.
Z Y
B X C
Figure 1
Three control towers A, B and C are in telecommunication contact by means of three cables
X, Y and Z as shown in Figure 1. A and B remain in contact only if Z is operative or if both
cables X and Y are operative. Cable X, Y and Z are subject to failure in any one day with
probabilities 0.015, 0.025 and 0.030 respectively. Such failures occur independently.
(a) Find, to 4 significant figures, the probability that, on a particular day,
(i) both cables X and Z fail to operate,
(ii) all cables X, Y and Z fail to operate,
(iii) A and B will not be able to make contact.
(b) Given that cable X fails to operate on a particular day, what is the probability that A
and B are not able to make contact?
(c) Given that A and B are not able to make contact on a particular day, what is the
probability that cable X has failed?
(7 marks)
184

12. A bus company finds that the number of complaints received per day follows a Poisson
distribution with mean 10. 40% of the complaints involve the time schedule, 35% involve
the manner of drivers, 13% involve the routes and 12% involve other things. These four
kinds of complaints are mutually exclusive and can be resolved to the passenger’s
satisfaction with probabilities 0.6, 0.2, 0.7 and 0.5 respectively.
(a) If a complaint cannot be resolved to the passenger’s satisfaction, find the probability
that this complaint involves the manner of drivers.
(4 marks)
5. Twelve boys and ten girls in a class are divided into 3 groups as shown in the table below:
Group A Group B Group C
Number of boys 6 4 2
Number of girls 2 3 5
To choose a student as the class representative, a group is selected at random, then a student
is chosen at random from the selected group.
(a) Find the probability that a boy is chosen as the class representative.
(b) Suppose that a boy is chosen as the class representative. Find the probability that the
boy is from Group A.
(5 marks)
8. A flower shop has 13 roses of which 2 are red, 5 are white and 6 are yellow. Mary selects 3
roses randomly and the colours are recorded.
(a) Denote the red rose selected by R, the white rose by W and the yellow rose by Y.
List the sample space (i.e. the set of all possible combinations of the colours of roses
selected, for example, 1R 2W denotes that 1 red rose and 2 white roses are selected).
(b) Find the probability that Mary selects exactly one red rose.
(c) Given that Mary has selected exactly one red rose, find the probability that only one of
the other two roses is white.
(6 marks)
4. A and B are two events. Suppose that P(A|B) = 0.5, P(B|A) = 0.4 and P(A  B) = 0.84. Let
P(A) = a, where a > 0.
(a) Express P(A  B) and P(B) in terms of a.
(b) Using the results of (a), or otherwise, find the value of a.
(c) Are A and B independent events? Explain your answer briefly.
(7 marks)
185
HKASL MATHEMATICS AND STATISTICS 04:10(a)(b)(c)(i)

10. A certain test gives a positive result in 94% of the people who have disease S. The test gives
a positive result in 14% of the people who do not have disease S. In a city, 7.5% of the
citizens have disease S.
(a) Find the probability that the test gives a positive result for a randomly selected citizen.
(3 marks)
(b) Given that the test gives a positive result for a randomly selected citizen, find the
probability that the citizen does not have disease S.
(3 marks)
(c) The test is applied to a group of citizens one by one. Let M be the number of tests
carried out when the first positive result is obtained. Denote the mean and the standard
deviation M by μ and σ respectively.
(i) Find P(M = 3).
12. In game A, two players take turns to draw a ball randomly, with replacement, from a bag
containing 4 green balls and 1 red ball. The first player who draws the red ball wins the
game. Christine and Donald play the game until one of them wins. Christine draws a ball
first.
(a) Find the probability that Donald wins game A before his 4th draw.
(2 marks)
(b) Find the probability that Donald wins game A.
(3 marks)
(c) Given that Donald wins game A, find the probability that Donald does not win game A
before his 4th draw.
(3 marks)
(d) After game A, Christine and Donald play game B. In a game B, there are box X and
box Y. Box X contains 2 cards which are numbered 4 and 8 respectively while box Y
contains 7 cards which are numbered 1, 2, …, 7 respectively. A player randomly draws
one card from each box without replacement. If the number drawn from box X is
greater than that from box Y, then the player wins game B. Christine and Donald take
turns to draw cards until one of them wins game B. Donald draws cards first.
(i) Find the probability that Donald wins game B in his 1st draw.
(ii) Find the probability that Christine wins game B.
(iii) Given that Christine and Donald win one game each, find the probability that
Donald wins game A.
(7 marks)
186

12. Officials of the Food Safety Centre of a city inspect the imported “Choy Sum” by selecting
40 samples of “Choy Sum” from each lorry and testing for an unregistered insecticide. A
lorry of “Choy Sum” is classified as risky if more than 2 samples show positive results in
the test.
Farm A supplies “Choy Sum” to the city. Past data indicated that 1% of the Farm A “Choy
Sum” showed positive results in the test. On a certain day, “Choy Sum” supplied by Farm A
is transported by a number of lorries to the city.
(a) Find the probability that a lorry of “Choy Sum” is risky.
(3 marks)
th
(b) Find the probability that the 5 lorry is the first lorry transporting risky “Choy Sum”.
(2 marks)
(c) If k lorries of “Choy Sum” are inspected, find the least value of k such that the
probability of finding at least one lorry of risky “Choy Sum” is greater than 0.05.
(3 marks)
(d) Farm B also supplies “Choy Sum” to the city. It is known that 1.5% of the Farm B
“Choy Sum” showed positive results in the test. On a certain day, “Choy Sum”
supplied by Farm A and Farm B is transported by 8 an 12 lorries respectively to the
city.
(i) Find the probability that a lorry of “Choy Sum” Supplied by Farm B is risky.
(ii) Find the probability that exactly 2 of these 20 lorries of “Choy Sum” are risky.
(iii) It is given that exactly 2 of these 20 lories of “Choy Sum” are risky. Find the
probability that these 2 lorries transport “Choy Sum” from Farm B.
(7 marks)
4. Let A and B be two exhaustive events of a certain sample space. Denote P(B) = b and
P(AB) = c, where 0 < b < 1 and 0 < c < 1.
(a) Express P(A) in terms of b and c.
1 2
(b) Suppose that P(A|B) = and P(B|A) = .
2 3
(i) Find the values of b and c.
(ii) Are the events A and B independent? Explain your answer.
(7 marks)
187

4. Peter and Susan play a shooting game. Each of them will shoot a target twice. Each shot
will score 1 point if it hits the target. The one who has a higher score is the winner. It is
known that the probabilities of hitting the target in one shot for Peter and Susan are 0.55
and 0.75 respectively. Assume that all shots are independent.
(a) Find the probability that Susan will be the winner.
(b) Given that Peter scores at least 1 point, what is the probability that Susan is the
winner?
(6 marks)
3 3
5. Let A and B be two events. It is given that P(A|B) = , P(B|A) = and P(A) = a.
4 8
(a) Find P(A  B) in terms of a.
(b) Find P(B) in terms of a.
7
(c) It is given that P(A'  B') = .
16
(i) Find the value of a.
(ii) Find the value of P(A|B').
(7 marks)
4.
Figure 1
In a game, a player will ping 4 balls one by one and each ball will randomly fall into 4
differnet slots as shown in Figure 1. A prize will be given if all the 4 balls are aligned in a
horizontal or a vertical row.
(a) What is the probability that a player wins the prize?
(b) What is the probability that a player wins the prize given the first two balls are in two
different slots?
(6 marks)
188

5. A plays B in a table-tennis game which consists of a number of plays. In each play, the
probability that A scores one point is 0.6 and the probability that B scores one point is 0.4.
(a) Suppose the rules are as follows:
Whoever scores 6 points before the other scores 5 wins the game. If both score 5 points,
they have a deuce. In the deuce, they continue to play and the one who first scores two
more points than the other wins the game.
(i) Find the probability that A wins the game given that a deuce has occurred.
(ii) Find the probability that A wins the game.
4. (a) A plays B in the final of a table-tennis tournament. The match consists of five games.
Whoever wins three games first becomes the champion. In each game, the probability
that A wins is 0.3 and the probability that B wins is 0.7.
(i) Find the probability that A becomes the champion.
(ii) Given that A becomes the champion, what is the probability that B has won two
games?
(iii) The rules of the match are now amended as follows:
Whoever wins three games before the other wins two becomes the champion. If both
win two games, they continue to play an the one who first wins two more games than
the other becomes the champion.
Find the answers to (i) and (ii) under this rule.
(b) A and B answer the same multiple-choice question paper independently. The paper has
20 questions, each containing five suggested answers, of which only one is correct. A
knows the correct answers for 16 questions and B knows 18. Thye both answer the
remaining questions by sheer guesswork. What is the probability that A answers more
questions correctly than B in the whole paper?
1. Of the cargoes transported from City A to City B, 80% are transported by land and the rest
by sea. Past records show that 5% of the cargoes transported by land and 2% by sea are
damaged.
(a) If a cargo received at B is found damaged, what is theprobability that it has been
transorported by land?
(b) In one month, 200 cargos are transported from A to B. For each damaged cargo, an
increase policy pays compensation of $10 000 if it has been transported by land and $6
000 if by sea. What is the expected compensation paid by the insurance company in
that month?
(5 marks)
189

9. Circuit boards are produced by a machine. Each board may turn out to be defective
(Outcome D) with probability 0.1, or good (Outcome D') with probability 0.9. They are
tested on an electronic device one by one for the purpose of sorting out defective boards. On
testing each board, the device may either buzz (Response B) or remain silent (Response B').
The device is so designed that P(B|D) = P(B'|D'), this common value being denoted by θ.
Suppose θ = 0.95.
(a) Show that P(B) = 0.14.
(b) Find the probability that the device buzzes its second time upon testing the tenth board.
(c) Find the probability that the device buzzes twice in testing no more than 10 boards.
(d) If the device buzzes on testing a board, find the probability that the board is defective.
(e) The engineer feels that the probability found in (d) is not high enough. He wants to
improve it to 0.9 by changing the value of θ. How large must θ be?
2. In a certain business school, the ratio of the number of part-time students to full-time
students is 9 : 8 at the end of their studies, all the school’s 935 students took a professional
examination and 550 passed. It is known that the percentage of the full-time students
passing the examination was twice that of the part-time students.
(a) Find the pass percentage of the part-time students.
(b) A student chosen at random is found to have failed the examination, what is the
probability that he was a full-time student?
(6 marks)
2. Twenty balls labeled 1 through 20 are put in a box. Eight balls are randomly selected from
the box without replacement. Let x denote the largest number selected,
(a) Denote by m the smallest possible value of x, write down the value of m.
(b) Let k be any integer such that m  k  20. Express P(x  k) in terms of k.
(c) It is known that x > 15. Find the probability that x is 16.
(6 marks)
5. A diagnostic test is used to detect the HIV virus. It is known that 2% of the people in a city
have the virus. Extensive research on the diagnostic test reveals that its results are correct
95% of the time. In other words, whether or not an individual has the HIV virus, the
probability that the test gives a correct diagnosis is 0.95.
(a) A person took the test and was diagnosed to have the HIV virus, whtat is the
probability that he actually did not have the virus?
(b) Three persons took the test and were all diagnosed to have the HIV virus, what is the
probability that at least two of them have the virus?
(7 marks)
190

5. In a certain club, one-fifth of its members are smokers. One-sixth of its male members are
smokers. Among the non-smoking members, one-eighth are female. A member is randomly
chosen.
(a) What is the probability that this member is a non-smoking female?
(b) What is the probability that this member is male?
(c) If this member is female, what is the probability that she is a non-smoking member?
(6 marks)
1. Mary goes to school by bus. On any school day, she takes, with probabilities 0.6, 0.3 and
0.1, one of the three bus routes R1, R2 and R3 respectively. Past experience reveals that, on
any given day, the probabilities that Mary arrives at school late by taking routes R1, R2 and
R3 are 0.05, 0.2 and 0.3 respectively.
(a) Mary arrived at school late on a certain day. What is the probability that she took route
R3 on that day?
(b) There are 20 school days in April. Find the probability that Mary will arrive at school
late on at most two days in April.
(6 marks)
191

12.
Albert Clockwise
Trap-door direction
Chris Billy
Figure 3
Albert, Billy and Chris participate in a game : there are six trap-doors on a platform which
stands over a poo, and the three players stand on three trap-doors as shown in Figure 3. The
game consists of two parts and only one player can proceed to the second part.
(a) In the first part, each player in turn pushes a button (starting with Albert, in the
clockwise direction) and one of the five trap-doors, except the one he is standing on,
will be randomly chosen and opened for a few seconds. If a player stands on that
trap-door, he will fall into the pool and be out of the game. This part of the game will
continue until only one player remains on the platform have pressed the button once.
(i) Find the probability that no player falls into the pool in the first round.
(ii) Show that the probability of Billy being the first player fall into the pool in the
34
first round is .
125
(iii) Find the probability of Billy being the first player to fall into the pool. (8 marks)
(b) Suppose that Chris proceeds to the second part of the game. He will stand on one of
the six trap-doors and answer at most three questions. If he answers a question
correctly, he can proceed to answer the next question. If he answers the ith question (i
= 1, 2 and 3) wrongly, then (i + 2) trap-doors will be randomly chosen out of the six
and opened for a fex seconds. He can proceed to answer the next question provided
that he does not fall into the pool, even though he answers a question wrongly. He will
win a jackpot if he remains on the platform after answering three questions.
(i) Given that Chris gives no correct answer, find the probability that he will win the
jackpot.
1
(ii) For each question, the probability that Chris gives a correct answer is . Find
4
the probability that he will win the jackpot. (7 marks)
192

5. Mary throws four fair six-sided dice simultaneously. Let X and y be respectively the
smallest and largest numbers of spots obtained. For example, if Mary gets an outcome as
shown in Figure 1, then X = 1 and Y = 5.
(a) Find P(Y = 6).
(b) Find P(X = 5 | Y = 6).
(7 marks)
5. Mobile phones are classified into three categories according to their selling prices: High (H),
Medium (M) and Low (L). In a city, 20% of the mobile phones are in Category H, 30% in
Category M and the rest in Category L. A safety test is conducted by the Consumer Council
to examine whether the intensity of radiation emitted by a mobile phone is excessive or not.
Table 1 shows, for each category, the probability that a mobile phone passes the test.
Category Probability of passing the test
H 0.8
M 0.6
L 0.4
(a) It is known that a randomly selected mobile phone passes the test. Find the probability
that it is in Category L.
(b) Four randomly selected mobile phones pass the test. Find the probability that at least
two of them are in either Category H or M.
(6 marks)
6. Andy, Boris and Chris play a dart game. The dart board has two zones I and II. Suppose that
the three players are equally skilful and, in each throw, they have probabilities 0.7, 0.2 and
0.1 of hitting zone I, zone II and missing the dart board respectively. The score to be
awarded in a throw is as follows:
Outcome Score
Hitting zone I 7
Hitting zone II 2
Missing the dart board 0
After a number of throws, Andy's total score is 18 amd 20 more than that of Boris and Chris
respectively. Now each player has three throws remaining in the game. The winner is the
one with the highest total score at the end of the game.
(a) Find the probability that Boris will win the game.
(b) Given that Boris has won the game, find the probability that Andy's total score is the
lowest among the three players at the end of the game.
(6 marks)
193
HKAL Applied Mathematics 07p2:10(a)(b)(i)(ii)(iii)

10. To boost sales, a shop issues scratch cards to its customers. Each scratch card consists of
four squares, one of which contains a 'sad face' and each of the other contains a 'smiley face'.
For each card, the 'sad face' is randomly located in one of the four squares. All squares are
covered by metallic films, as shown in Figure 2.
Figure 2 Figure 3
On receiving a card, a customer can choose to rub off one, two or three of the metallic films
simultaneously. They are then awarded stamps according to the following conversion table.
Pattern
Stamps awarded
No. of 'smiley faces' revealed No. of 'sad faces' revealed
1 0 1
2 0 2
3 0 3
Any 1 0
Figure 3 shows an example of a card which receives no stamps.
(a) If a customer rubs off the metallic films on three squares on a scratch card, find the
probability of revealing a 'sad face'.
(2 marks)
(b) Tony amd Stevem have just obtained some scratch cards. The following table shows
the probability distributions of the number of squares of which they will rub off the
metallic films on a scratch card.
The probability The probability
Event
of Tony of Steven
1
Rubbing off the metallic film on one square 0
3
1
Rubbing off the metallic film on two squares 0
3
1
Rubbing off the metallic film on three squares 1
3
(i) Given thayt Tony has revealed a 'sad face' on a card, find the probability that he has
rubbed off the metallic films on three squares on the card.
(ii) Find the expected number of stamps that Tony is awarded for a scratch card.
(iii) Suppose that Steven has five scratch cards. Find the probability that he is awarded no
stamps from at least three cards.
194

5. Betty can take two bus routes R1 and R2 from home to school, and the probabilities of taking
R1 and R2 are 0.4 and 0.6 respectively. It is known that R1 and R2 will suffer a traffic jam
with probabilities 0.25 and 0.4 respectively. If there is no traffic jam, she will arrive on time.
If she takes R1 and R1 suffers a traffic jam, the probability that she will arrive on time is 0.2.
If she has arrived on time, the probability that she takes R2 is 0.6. Find the probability taht
there is a traffic jam on her way to school given that she has arrived on time.
(5 marks)
4. In a party, each of the six persons A, B, C, D, E and F brings along a present for exchange.
Each person will draw a present randomly without replacement. A is the first one to draw, B
is the second, C is the third, and so on.
(a) Find the probability that A will not get his own present but C will.
(b) Given that A does not get his own present, find the probability that C will get his own
present.
(c) Given that only one person before C gets his own present, find the probability that C
will get his own present.
(6 marks)
4. An electronic signal, 0 or 1, can be fed into a device and a corresponding signal, 0 or 1, will
be generated as an output. The probabilities of different situations are listed below:
P(output | input)
Output
0 1
Input
0 0.97 0.03
1 0.11 0.89
(a) Suppose signals 0 and 1 are equally likely to be generated each time. Two indepedent
signals thus generated are fed into the device, and both output signals are 0. Find the
probability that exactly one of the two input signals is 0.
2. In a factory, 30%, 50% and 20% of cans of sardines are produced by machines A, B and C
respectively. Among the cans produced, it is known that 3%, 4% and 5% of cans produced
by machine A, B and C respectively are underweight.
(a) Suppose a can is selected at random from the factory.
(i) If the selected can is found underweight, find the probability that it is produced by
machine B.
(ii) If the selected can is found not underweight, find the probability that it is not
produced by machine A.
195
15.5 Use permutation and combination to solve problems relating to probability

11. A day is regarded as humid if the relative humidity is over 80% and is regarded as dry
otherwise. In city K, the probability of having a humid day is 0.7.
(a) Assume that whether a day is dry or humid is independent from day to day.
(i) Find the probability of having exactly three dry days in a week (7 days).
(ii) What is the mean number of dry days before the next humid day? Give your
answer correct to 3 decimal places.
(iii) Today is dry. What is the probability of having two or more humid days before the
next dry day?
(b) After some research, it is known that the relative humidity in city K depends solely on
that of the previous day. Given a dry day, the probability that the following day is dry
is 0.9 nd given aa humid day, the probability that the following day is humid is 0.8.
(i) If it is dry on March 19, what is the probability that it will be humid on March 20
and dry on March 21?
(ii) If it is dry on March 19, what is the probabiltiy that it will be dry on March 21?
(iii) Suppose it is dry on both March 19 and March 21. What is the probability that it
is humid on March 20?
(7 marks)
HKASL MATHEMATICS AND STATISTICS 95:11(a)(c)(d)
11. Madam Wong purchases cartons of oranges from a supplier every day. Her buying policy is
to randomly select five oranges from a carton adn accept the carton if all five are not rotten.
Under usual circumstances, 2% of the oranges are rotten.
(a) Find the probability that a carton of oranges will be rejected by Madam Wong.
(3 marks)
(c) Today, Madam Wong has a target of buying 20 acceptable cartons of oranges from the
supplier. Instead of applying the stopping rule in (b), she will keep on inspecting the
cartons until her target is achieved. Unfortunately, the supplier has a stock of 22
cartons only.
(i) Find the probability that she can achieve her target.
(ii) Assuming she can achieve her target, find the probability that she needs to inspect
20 cartons only.
(7 marks)
(d) The supplier would like to import oranges of better quality so that ech carton will have
at least a 95% probability of being accepted by Madam Wong. If r% of these oranges
are rotten, find the greatest acceptable values of r.
(2 marks)
196

5. John and Mary invite 8 friends to their Christmas party.
(a) When playing a game, all of the 10 participants are arranged in a row. Find the number
of arrangements that can be made if
(i) there is no restriction,
(ii) John and Mary are next to each other.
(b) By the end of the party, the participants are arranged in 2 rows of 5 in order to take a
photograph. Find the number of arrangements that can be made if
(i) there is no restriction,
(ii) John and Mary are next to each other.
(6 marks)
5. 60% of passengers who travel by train use Octopus. A certain train has 12 compartments
and there are 10 passengers in each compartment.
(a) What is the probability that exactly 5 of the passengers in a compartment use Octopus?
(b) What is the mean number of passengers using Octopus in a compartment?
(c) What is the probability that the third compartment is the first one to have exactly 5
passengers using Octopus?
(6 marks)
6. At a school sports day, the timekeeping group for running events consists of 1 chief judge, 1
referee and 10 time keepers. The chief judge and hte referee are chosen from 5 teachers
while the 10 timekeepers are selected from 16 students.
(a) How many different timekeeping groups can be formed?
(b) If it is possible to have a timekeeping group with all the timekeepers being boys, what
are the possible numbers of boys among the 16 students?
(c) If the probability of having a timekeeping group with all the timekeepers being boys is
3
, find the number of boys among the 16 students.
364
(6 marks)
197

6. Mr. Chan has 6 cups of ice-cream in his refrigerator. There are 5 different flavours as listed:
1 cup of chocolate,
1 cup of mango,
1 cup of peach,
1 cup of strawberry and
2 cups of vanilla.
Mr. Chan randomly chooses 3 cups of the ice-cream. Find the probability that
(a) there is no vanilla flavour ice-cream,
(b) there is exactly 1 cup of vanilla flavour ice-cream.
(5 marks)
6. Daivd has forgotten his uncle's mobile phone number. He can only remember that the phone
number is 98677XYZ, where X, Y and Z are the forgotten digits. Find the probability that
(a) at least 2 of the forgotten digits are different;
(b) the forgotten digits are permutations of 2, 3 and 8;
(c) exactly 2 of the forgotten digits have already appeared among the first five digits of the
phone number.
(7 marks)
11. A manufacturer of brand C potato chips runs a promotion plan. Each packet of brand C
potato chips contains either a red coupon or a blue coupon. Four red coupons can be
exchanged for a toy. Five blue coupons can be exchanged for a lottery ticket. it is known
that 30% of the packets contain red coupons and the rest contain blue coupons.
(a) Find the probability that a lottery ticket can be exchanged only when 6th packet of
brand C potato chips has been opened.
(3 marks)
(b) A person buys 10 packets of brand C potato chips.
(i) Find the probability that at least 1 toy can be exchanged.
(ii) Find the probability that exactly 1 toy and exactly 1 lottery ticket can be
exchanged.
(iii) Given that at least 1 toy can be exchanged, find the probability that exactly 1
lottery ticket can also be exchanged.
(8 marks)
(c) Two persons buy 10 packets of brand C potato chips each. Assume that they do not
share coupons or exchange coupons with each other.
(i) Find the probability that they can each get at least 1 toy.
(ii) Find the probability that one of them can get at least 1 toy and the other can get 2
lottery tickets. (4 marks)
198

6. Mrs. Wong has 12 bottles of fruit juice in her kitchen:
1 bottle of graph juice,
6 bottles of apple juice and
5 bottles of orange juice.
Mrs. Wong randonly chooses 4 bottles to serve her friends, Ann, Billy, Christine and
Donald.
(a) Find the probability that exactly 2 bottles of orange juice are chosen by Mrs. Wong.
(b) Suppose that each of the four friends randomly selects a bottle of fruit juice from the 4
bottles offered by Mrs. Wong.
(i) If only 2 of the bottles of fruit juice offered by Mrs. Wong are orange juice, find
the probability that both Ann and Billy select orange juice.
(ii) Find the probability that fewer than 4 of the bottles of fruit juice offered by Mrs.
Wong are orange juice and both Ann and Billy select orange juice.
(7 marks)
11. A manufacturer of brand E graph juice starts a marketing campaign by issuing points which
can be exchanged for gifts. The number of points is shonw on the back of the lid of each can
of brand E graph juice. The probabilities for a customer to get a can of brand E grape juice
with a 2-point lid andd 5-point lid are 0.8 and 0.2 respectively. A total of 15 points or more
can be exchanged for a packet of potato chips while a total of 20 points or more can be
exchanged for a radio.
(a) Find the probability that a customer can exchange of a packet of potato chips in buying
5 cans of brand E grape juice.
(3 marks)
(b) A customer, Peter, buys 7 cans of brand E grape juice.
(i) Find the probability that only when teh 7th can of brand E grape juice has been
opened, Peter gets a 5-point lid.
(ii) Find the probability that only when the 7th can of brand E grape juie has been
opened, Peter can exchange for a radio.
(iii) Given that Peter can exchange for a radio only when the 7th can of brand E grape
juice has been opened, find the probability that the 7th can of brand E grape juice
has a 5-point lid.
(iv) Given that Peter cannot get a paket of potato chips after opening 5 cans of brand
E grape juice, find the probability that he can exchange for a radio only when the
7th can of brand E grape juice has been opened.
(12 marks)
199

5. It is known that 36% of the customers of a certain supermarket will bring their own
shopping bags. There are 3 cashiers and each cashier has 5 customers in queue.
(a) Find the probability that among all the customers in queue, at least 4 of them have
brought their own shopping bags.
(b) If exactly 4 customers in queue have brought their own shopping bags, what is the
probability that each cashier will have at least 1 customer who has brought his/her own
shopping bag?
(6 marks)
200

10.
TY TY TY
TY
TY TY
Figure 1 Figure 2
A soft-drink company proposes a promotion programme by attaching a scratch card to each
can of soft drink. Every card has nine squares, with 3 or 4 randomly selected squares each
containing a smiley face and in each of the rest a "TY" denoting 'Thank You'. An example is
shown in Figure 1. All squares are covered by metallic films (see Figure 2).
(a) A customer is asked to rub off the metallic films on 3 squares of a scratch card. If 3
smiley faces are found, the customer will win a prize. Find the probability that the
customer can win a prize if the card has
(i) 3 smiley faces,
(ii) 4 smiley faces.
(2 marks)
1
(b) If the company wants to set the probability of winning a prize to be at most , what
60
should be the largest balue of the proportion (p) of the cards with 4 smiley faces?
(3 marks)
(c) The company then produces the scratch card according to the proportion p found in (b).
The company changes the rule of the game that customers will be asked to rub off the
metallic films on 4 squares now and the prizes will be given as follows:
Gold Prize - exactly 4 smiley faces are found on 1 card
Silver Prize - exactly 3 smiley faces are found on 1 card
Bronze Prize - exxactly 2 smiley faces are found on each of 2 cards
Find the probability of winning
(i) a Gold Prize with 1 card,
(ii) a Silver Prize with 1 card,
(iii) one or two prizes with 2 cards.
(10 marks)
201

11. In a promotion period of an electonic shopping card with spending limit of $3000,
cardholders who spend over $400 in the maximum amount transaction are classified as
VIPs and are eligible for entering an online "click-and-get-point" game once. The rules of
the game are detailed in the following table.
Spending ($x) VIP Category Number of clicks allowed
400 < x  800 Silver 1
800 < x  1000 Gold 2
1000 < x  3000 Platimum 3
The probabilities to get 1, 2, 3 and 4 points on a single click are 0.4, 0.3, 0.2 and 0.1
respectively. The total number of points got in a game can be exchanged for a cash rebate
according to the following table.
Total number of points Cash rebate
1 to 3 $20
4 to 9 $50
10 to 12 $200
It is known that among the VIPs, 25% belong to Silver, 60% belong to Gold and 15%
belong to Platinum.
(a) In a certain completed game, find the probability
(i) of getting exactly 3 points if the player is a Gold VIP;
(ii) of getting exactly 3 points;
(iii) that the player is a Gold VIP given that the player gets exactly 3 points.
(5 marks)
(b) Find the probability that the player gets a cash rebate of exactly $20 in a certain
completed game.
(2 marks)
(c) In a certain completed game, find the probability that the player gets
(i) exactly 10 points;
(ii) a cash rebate of exactly $200.
(3 marks)
(d) Research data reveal that 70% of each category of the VIPs will complete the game. A
manager of the card company proposes offering a 4% direct cash rebate of the
transaction to all VIPs instead of the online game. However, a senior manager, Winnie,
thinks that the cost of that proposal will certainly be higher than the expected cash
rebate of the online game.
(i) Do you agree with Winnie? Explain your answer.
(ii) Another senior manager, John, thinks that the cost of offering a 2% direct cash
rebate to all VIPs will certainly be lower than the expected cash rebate of the
online game. Do you agree with John? Explain your answer.
(5 marks)
202

12. A manufacturer produces a specific kind of tablets. He uses one machine to produce
ingredient A and ingredient B, and then one mixer to mix the ingredients to produce the
tablets and pack them in bags. The bags of tablets are then delivered to a hospital.
Past records indicate that 0.6% of ingredients A and B respectively are contaminated during
the ingredient production process, while 0.1% of the tablets are contaminated during the
mixing and packing proccess. A tablet is regarded as a contaminated tablet if
* the ingredient A in the tablet is contaminated, or
* the ingredient B in the tablet is contaminated, or
* the tablet is contaminated during the mixing and packing process.
The pharmacist of the hospital draws a random sample of 20 tablets from each bag to test
for contamination. A bag is considered unsafe if it contains more than 1 tablet tested
positive as a contaminated tablet.
(a) Find the probability that a randomly selected tablet from a certain bag is a
contaminated tablet.
(3 marks)
(b) Find the probability that a bag of tablets is regarded unsafe.
(2 marks)
(c) In a certain week, 100 bags of such tablets are delivered to the hospital. The hospital
will suspend the supply of the tablets from the manufacturer if more than 4 bags are
found unsafe within a week.
(i) Find the probability that the 10th bag will be the first one which is regarded
unsafe.
(ii) Find the probability that the supply from the manufacturer will be suspended in a
certain week.
(5 marks)
(d) The manufacturer wants to increase the production and requires the probability of a
tablet being contaminated to be less than 1%. To achiee this, he plans to add n new
machines for producing the ingredients A and B which has contamination probability
of 0.4% respectively. Suppose equal amount of ingredients A and B are produced by
the original machine and each of the n new machines.
(i) Express the probability that the ingredient A is contaminated in terms of n.
(ii) What is the least value of n?
(5 marks)
203

5.
B
N
T2 E
A T1
Figure 1
Figure 1 shows a board with routes blocked by shaded squares for an electronic toy car that
goes from A to B. At each junction, the toy car will go either East or North as shown by the
arrows at A. The toy car will choose randomly a route from A to B. There may be traps
being set at some junctions. If the car reaches a trapped junction, it will stop and cannot
reach B.
(a) If a trap is set at T1, how many different routes are there for the toy car to go from A to
B?
(b) If a trap is set at T2, how many different routes are there for the toy car to go from A to
B?
(c) If two traps are set at T1 and T2, find the probability that the toy car can reach B from
A.
(6 marks)
204

11. Every morning Mr. Chan has to reach his office by 9 a.m.. His office is in a 60-storey
building which is served by four lifts A, B, C and D. Lifts A and B stop at any floor between
the ground and the 30th floor. To go to the upper part of the building, one has to go to the
30th floor first and then take lift C or D, both of which stop at any floor between the 30th and
the 60th floors, the four lifts work independently. On any day the probability that lift A is out
of service before 9 a.m. is 0.1 and the corresponding probabilities for lifts B, C and D are
0.1, 0.2 and 0.2 respectively.
(a) In a years of 365 days, what would be the expected number of days on which only one
lift is out of service before 9 a.m.?
(3 marks)
th
(b) Given that Mr. Chan’s office is on the 25 floor, find the probability that he can reach
his office punctually by lift on a particular day.
(2 marks)
th
(c) Now Mr. Chan is transferred to another office on the 45 floor.
(i) Find the probability that he can reach his office punctually by lift on a particular
day.
(ii) Find the probability that out of 20 days, he can reach his office punctually by lift
on at least 18 days.
(iii) Given that two lifts are out of service before 9 a.m. on a particular day, find the
probability that he can still reach his office punctually by lift.
(10 marks)
5. It is known that 4% of the adults in a city have coronary heart disease. A health centre
provides a medical test to diagnose this disease. Extensive study has shown that on
receiving the test
(1) 95% of adults having coronary heart disease will be correctly diagnosed as having
the disease; and
(2) 3% of healthy adults will be incorrectly diagnosed as having the disease.
(a) Find the probability that a randomly selected adult reveling the test is diagnosed as
having coronary heart disease.
(b) Mr. Chan is diagnosed by the test as having coronary heart disease, find the probability
that he actually does not have the disease.
(c) In a certain day, five adults receive the test, find the probability that one of them is
incorrectly diagnosed.
(7 marks)
205
HKAL Applied Mathematics 98p2:11(a)(i)(ii)

11. The main components of a certain kind of hydraulic pump are a circular plunger and a
hollow circuit cylinder. The plunger is required to fit inside the cylinder. In other words, the
diameter, x, of the plunger must be less than the internal diameter, y, of the cylinder. It is
known that x is normally distributed with a mean of 99.90 mm and a standard deviation of
0.15 mm; and that y is also normally distributed with a mean of 98.90 mm and a standard
deviation of 0.20 mm. Moreover, x and y are independent. From past experience, the
properties of good fits, namely a randomly selected plunger fitting inside a randomly
selected cylinder, is 65.54%.
(a) The plungers and cylinders are assembled by a machine. In each trial, the machine
picks up a plunger and a cylinder randomly and tests whether they fit well.
(i) What is the probability that the first good fit occurs on the third trial?
(ii) What is the probability that the second good fit occurs on or after the fifth trial?
2. A fair six-sided die is thrown n times. Let Pn be the probability that the total number of
times of obtaining a ‘six’ in the n throws is an odd number.
2 1
(a) Show that Pn = Pn  1 + for n  2.
3 6
(b) Express Pn in terms of n.
(6 marks)
10. In a grand sale of a department store, every customer can participate in a game by randomly
drawing three balls from a bag one by one and with replacement. There are nine balls in the
bag, five are marked with the number ‘10’, three marked with ‘30’ and one marked with
‘50’. Let X be the sum of numbers marked on the three balls drawn by a customer. The
customer may win a cash prize according to X as desribed in Table 1.
X Cash prize
X > 100 $500
50 < X < 100 $100
X  50 no prize is won
Let Y be the value of the cash prize won by a customer in the game.
(a) Show that the probability that a customer fails to win any cash prize in the game is
350
.
729
(4 marks)
206

11. Tom goes out a 7 am for breakfast in a restaurant and leaves the restaurant at 8 am every
morning. If it is raining at 7 am, he will certainly bring an umbrella with him; otherwise the
probability that he will do so is 0.3. If it is not raining at 8 am, the probability is 0.5 that he
will leave his umbrella, if any, in the restaurant. However, if it is raining at 8 am, he will
definitely not leave any umbrella in the restaurant. Suppose that the weather on a certain
day is independent of that on any other days. Past experience reveals that:
1. The probability that it is raining at 7 am on a certain day is 0.2.
2. If it is raining at 7 am on a certain day, the probability that it will be raining at
8 am on that day is 0.73.
3. If it is not raining at 7 am on a certain day, the probability that it will be raining at
8 am on that day is 0.1.
(a) Show that the probability that Tom will leave an umbrella in the restaurant on a certain
day is 0.135.
(4 marks)
(b) Given that Tom left an umbrella in the restaurant on a certain day, what is the
probability that it was raining at 7 am on that day?
(2 marks)
(c) Determine whether the following two events are independent or not.
E1 : It will be raining at 7 am tomorrow.
E2 : Tom will leave an umbrella in the restaurant tomorrow.
(2 marks)
(d) Find the probability that Tom will leave more than one umbrella in the restaurant in a
period of 5 days.
(3 marks)
(e) Tom left an umbrella in the restaurant this morning. After how many days, on the
average, will Tom leave another umbrella in the restaurant? Give your answer correct
to one decimal place.
(4 marks)

1
[Note: You may use the identity  ir
i 1
i 1

(1  r ) 2
for | r | < 1.]
207

6. In a deck of 52 cards, there are 13 kinds: Ace (A), King (K), Queen (Q), Jack (J) and values
from 2 to 10. Each of such kinds has 4 suits: Spade ( ), Heart ( ), Club ( ) and
Diamond ( ).Define Full House as a set of five cards containing three of a kind and a pair
of another kind. A King Full House is a Full House with three Kings. Figure 1 shows an
example of a King Full House.
Figure 1
Karen draws five cards randomly from the dech without replacement. In (a) and (b) below,
give your answer correct to 3 significant figures.
(a) What is the probability that Karen will get a King Full House?
(b) Suppose that the cards drawn by Karen have formed a Full House without any Kings.
She then draws another five cards randomly from the remaining cards without
replacement. Find the probability that these five cards form a King Full House.
(5 marks)
208

9. There are a History test, a Geography test andan Economics test in a school. Each question
in each test has 4 choices, exactly two of which are correct. Assume that all candidates
select exactly two choices for each question in each test. A candidate who selects choices at
random for all questions is said to be a wild-guesser. For subjects History and Geography, a
candidate can get 1 mark in a question if his two selected choices in this question are both
correct; otherwise, no marks will be given.
(a) The History test contains 10 questions.
(i) Find the probability that a wild-guesser will get 1 mark in a question.
(ii) Determine the minimum passing mark (in integers) such that the probability that a
wild-guesser will pass the test is less than 10%.
(4 marks)
(b) The Geography test contains 60 questions. By using normal approximation to binomial
probabilities, determine the minimum passing mark (in integers) such that more than
69.5% of wild-guessers will not pass the test.
(5 marks)
(c) The Economics test contains 10 questions and its marking scheme is shown in the
following table:
Number of correct Numberof incorrect
Marks
choices in each question choices in each question
2 0 1
1 1 k
0 2 0
It is known that the expected number of marks got by a wild-guesser in a question is
0.3.
(i) Find k.
(ii) Find the probability that a wild-guesser gets more than 8 marks in the Economics
test. Give your answer correct to 3 significant figures.
(6 marks)
209

6.
24
24 24 24 24 24
Figure 1
Figure 1 shows a security lock of a bank vault consisting of 5 dials. Each dial has 24 numbers
with only one of them being the unlock number. In order to open the vault, each of the 5 dials
must be turned to its unlock number.
(a) How many unlock number combinations are there if
(i) all the 5 unlock numbers are different,
(ii) all the 5 unlock numbers are different with the unlock number of the leftmost dial
being the greatest,
(iii) at most 3 unlock numbers are the same?
(b) Alan sets the security lock according to (a)(i). He can only remember that the unlock
numbers of the two leftmost dials are even. Find the least number of trials to guarantee that
he can open the vault.
(6 marks)
3. In a city, 35% of people are suffering from diabetes, and 40% of people are neither
overweight nor suffering from diabetes.
(a) If a person is randomly selected from the people not suffering from diabetes, find the
probability that the person is overweight.
(b) If 5 persons are randomly selected from the people not suffering from diabetes, find
the probability that exactly 3 of them are overweight.
(c) If n persons are randomly selected from the people not suffering from diabetes, find
the minimum value of n such that the probability of no overweight persons among
those selected is less than 0.01.
(6 marks)
210

8. N balls are distributed randomly among n cells. Each of the nN possible distributions has
probability nN.
(a) (i) Calculate the probability Pk that a given cell contains exactly k balls.
3. (a) In how many ways can three different numbers be selected from the thirty numbers
1, 2, …, 30 such that their sum is
(i) divisible by 2,
(ii) divisible by 3?
4. (a) A tosses m fair coins followed by B with n m coins. Show that the probability that
m n
mn 1
they get the same number of heads is C n   .
2

5. On a rainy day, each man arriving at a dinner party leaves his umbrella and takes one when
he departs. Suppose that each man's choice of an umbrella at the end of the dinner is
completely random.
Let Pn, k be the probability that, in a party of n men, exactly k men take back their own
umbrellas.
(a) Show that Pn, k = (k + 1)Pn + 1, k + 1.
4. There are n (n > 1) different boxes each of which can hold up to n + 2 books. Find the
probability that
(a) no box is empty when n different books are put into the boxes at random,
(b) exactly one box is empty when n different books are put into the boxes at random,
(c) no box is empty when n + 1 different books are put into the boxes at random,
(d) no box is empty when n + 2 different books are put into the boxes at random.
7. A fair die is thrown repeatedlly. Denote by a k (k  1) the sum of the scores in the
first k throws. For any positive integer n, let p(n) be the probability that a k = n for
some k  1.
(a) (i) Fin p(1), p(2) and p(3).
(ii) Express p(4) interms of p(1), p(2) and p(3).
(iii) For n > 6, express p(n) in terms of p(n  1), p(n  2), ... and p(n  6).
211
Chapter 16: Measures of dispersion

16.1 Understand dispersion
16.1C Mode
5. A researcher conducted a study on the time (in minutes spent) on using the Internet by
university students. Thirty questionnaires were sent out and only 19 were returned. The
results are as follows :
12 13 14 15 15 21 25 29
36 37 38 41 47 49 49 49
52 54 57
(a) Construct a stem and leaf diagram for these data.
212
16.1D Median
3. 40 students participate in a 5-day summer camp. The stem-and-leaf diagram below shows
the distribution of heights in cm of these students.
Stem (tens) Leaf (units)
13 8
14 1 5 6 9
15 0 1 3 4 4 4 5 5 6 7 8 8 9
16 1 1 2 3 3 4 5 6 7 7 8 8
17 0 2 2 3 4 5 6 7
18 1 4
(a) Find the median of the distribution of heights.
(b) A student is to be selected randomly to hoist the school flag every day during the
camp. Find the probability that
(i) the fourth day will be the first time that a student taller than 170 cm will be
selected,
(ii) out of the 5 selected students, exactly 3 are taller than 170 cm.
(6 marks)
6. A student defines a value A for n numbers x1, x2, …, xn as
   
A = median of |x1  x |, |x2  x |, |x3  x |, …, |xn  x |,

where x is the median of x1, x2, x3.
(a) Find A for the numbers 2, 4, 6, 8.
213
16.1E Mean
4. Figure 2 shows the cumulative frequency polygon of weights (in kg) for a group of 100
students.
100
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
40 45 50 55 60 65 70
Weight (kg)
Figure 2 Cumulative frequency polygon of weights for a group of 100 students
(a) Use the graph paper on Page 4 to draw a histogram of the weights.
(b) Determine the inter-quartile range of the weights from the cumulative frequency
polygon.
(c) Determine the mean weight from the histogram.
(6 marks)
214
50
40
30
20
10
0
40 45 50 55 60 65 70
Weight (kg)
4. Statistics show that the daily pocket-money which secondary school students receive from
their parents has the following distribution:
Daily pocket-money Percentage
$20  $29 29
$30  $39 35
$40  $49 16
$50  $59 12
$60  $69 8
(a) Find the expected value of the daily pocket-money received by a randomly selected
secondary school student.
215

11.
Figure 3
Figure 3 shows a machine game. There are four identical balls on a board carved with nine
cups. Each cup can hold one ball only. In each play of the game, a player inserts a token
into the machine and all the balls will then bounce up. Each ball eventually falls randomly
on one of the nine cups. Tokens are awarded to the player if one of the following patterns is
obtained:
Prize Pattern Number of tokens awarded
The four balls fall
First on the four corner (e.g.: ) 6
cups.
Any three balls fall

Second on a diagonal of (e.g.: ) 4
cups.
Any three balls fall

Third on the same row or (e.g.: ) 2
column of cups.
Table 3
(a) Find the probability of winning a first prize in a play.
(1 mark)
11
(b) Show that the probability of winning no prize in a play is .
18
(5 marks)
(c) Is this a fair game? Explain your answer.
(3 marks)
(d) Initially John had two tokens. If he then played the game twice, what would be the
probability for each of the following events?
(i) He would have no token left.
(ii) He would have at least four tokens left.
(6 marks)
216
16.2A Understand the concepts of range

5. The following stem-and-leaf diagram shows the distribution of the test scores of 21 students
taking a statistics course.
Stem (Tens) Leaf (Units)
2 a
3
4 9
5 0 0 1 3 7 7
6 0 2 3 5 5 5 9
7 0 3 4 9
8 2 b
Let x be the mean of these 21 scores.
It is known that if the smallest value of these 21 scores is removed, the range is decreased
by 27 and the mean is increased by 2.
(a) Find the values of a, b and x .
(b) The teacher wants to select 6 students to participate in a competition by first excluding
the student with the lowest score. If the students are randomly selected, find the
probability that there will be
(i) no students with score higher than 70 being selected;
(ii) at least 2 students with scores higher than 70 being selected.
(6 marks)
217
16.2B Understand the concepts of inter-quartile range

1. The numbers of hours spent by 25 students in studying for an examination are as follows:
11 8 25 21 18 25 7 32 29 18
18 18 22 12 5 30 19 15 20 50
25 10 26 23 12
(a) Copy and complete the following stem-and-leaf diagram for the above data:
Stem (in 10) Leaf (in 1)
0 5 7 8
1
2
3
4
5
(b) Find the mode, the median and the interquartile range of the number of hours spent by
the 25 students.
(6 marks)
3. The ages of 35 members of a golf club are shown below:
1 a 8 8 9 9
2 0 1 2 3 3 4 7 8
3 1 2 2 5 b 9 9
4 0 2 5 5 6
5 2 2 5 5 8 8
6 0 1 c 6
It is known that the median and the range of the ages are 36 and 48 respectively, and the
ages of the two eldest members differ by 1.
(a) Find the unknown digits a, b and c.
(b) The three members whose ages correspond to the three unknown digits a, b and c are
replaced with three new members with ages 12, 38 and 68 respectively. Draw two
box-and-whisker diagrams in your answer book comparing the age distributions of the
members before and after replacement.
(6 marks)
218
16.3A Construct the box-and-whisker diagram

5. Some statistics from a survey on the monthly incomes (in thousands of dollars) of a group
of university graduates are summarized as follows:
Minimum 8
Maximum 52
Lower quartile 10
Median 17
Upper quartile 20
Mean 17.94
Standard deviation 4.7
(a) Using the above information, construct a box-and-whisker diagram to describe the
distribution of the monthly incomes.
219
16.3B Interpret the box-and-whisker diagram and use it to compare the

distributions of different sets of data
3. A test was carried out to see how quickly a class of students reacted to a visual instruction
to press a particular key when they played a computer game. Their reaction times, measured
in tenths of second, are recorded and the statistics for the whole class are summarized
below.
Lower quartile Upper quartile Median Minimum Maximum
Boys 8 14 11 5 17
Girls 9 16 11 7 21
(a) Draw two box-and-whisker diagrams in your answer book comparing the reaction
times of boys and girls.
(b) Suppose a boy and a girl are randomly selected from the class. Which one will have a
bigger chance of having a reaction time shorter than 1.1 seconds? Explain.
(5 marks)
5. A fitness centre advertised a programme specifically designed for woman weighing 70 kg or
more, and claimed that their individual weights could be reduced by at least 20 kg on
completion of the programme. Twenty-one women joined the programme and their weights
in kg when they started are shown below:
7 0 0 2 3 5 5 7
8 1 1 4 5 6 6 7 8
9 0 2 5 8 9 9
(a) Find the median and the interquartile range of these weights.
(b) On completion of the programme, the median, lower quartile and upper quartile of the
weights of these women are 73 kg, 68 kg and 77 kg respectively. The lightest and
heaviest women weigh 60 kg and 82 kg respectively. Draw two box-and-whisker
diagrams in your answer book comparing the weights of these women before and after
the programme.
(c) Referring to the box-and-whisker diagram in (b), someone claimed that none of these
women had reduced their individual weights by 20 kg or more on completion of the
programme. Determine whether this claim is correct or not. Explain your answer
briefly.
(6 marks)
220
16.4A Understand the concept of variance and standard deviation for ungrouped
data set
10. A bank customer service centre records the number of incoming telephone calls in
five-minute time intervals (FMTIs). The following table lists the number of calls in a
sample of 50 FMTIs.
Number of calls 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 or more
Frequency 5 12 14 10 6 2 1 0
(a) Find the sample mean and the sample standard deviation of the data in the table.
(2 marks)
6. Twenty-five boys and five girls sit an examination. The mean and variance of the marks of
all these thirty candidates are 61 and 64 respectively. The mean mark of the boys is 60, and
the marks obtained by the five girls are 80, 60, 75, 65 and x.
(a) Find x.
(b) Find the variance of the marks obtained by the boys.
(6 marks)
221
16.4B Understand the concept of variance and standard deviation for grouped
data set
16.5 Compare the dispersions of different sets of data using appropriate
measures
4. The stem-and-leaf diagram below shows the distribution of the numbers of books read by
24 students of a school in the first term:
0 3 4 6 7
1 1 2 2 3 5 6 7 8 8 9
2 1 3 4 5 5 7 8 9
3 0 0
(a) Find the median and the interquartile range of the numbers of books read.
(b) The librarian of the school ran a reading award scheme in the second term. The
following table shows some statistics of the distribution of the numbers of books read
by these 24 students in the second term:
Minimum Lower quartile Median Upper quartile Maximum
8 26 35 41 46
(i) Draw two box-and-whisker diagrams of the same scale to compare the numbers
of books read by these students in the first term and in the second term.
(ii) The librarian claims that not less than 50% of these students read at least 5 more
books in the second term than that in the first term. Do you agree? Explain your
answer.
(7 marks)
222
16.7 Explore the effect of the following operations on the dispersion of the
data:
16.7A Adding an item to the set of data
6.
Tens Units
2 6 7
3 0 0 a 3 9 9
4 b 3 3 3 6 8 8
5 6 9
6 5 9
Figure 2
The revistion times (in minutes) of 19 students are represented by the stem-and-leaf
diagram in Figure 2. It is known that the mean revision time is (40 + b) minutes.
(a) Find a and b.
(b) Find the standard deviation of the revision times for the students.
(c) The revision times of 2 more students are added. If both the range and the mean do not
change after the inclusion of the 2 data, find the range of possible values of the
standard deviation of the revision times for the 21 students.
(7 marks)
223
HKASL MATHEMATICS AND STATISTICS 12:6???

6. An educational psychologist adopts the Internet Addiction Test to measure the students’
level of Internet addiction. The scores of a random sample of 30 students are presented in
the following stem-and-leaf diagram.
Tens Units
3 a
4
5 2 4 6 8
6 0 1 3 5 6 7 8 8 9
7 1 2 2 4 5 5 6 8
8 0 2 3 5 8
9 0 2 b
Let σ be the standard deviation of the scores. It is known that the mean of the scores is 71
and the range of the scores is 56.
(a) Find the values of a, b and σ.
(b) The psychologist classifies those scoring between 73 and 100 as excessive Internet
users. If 4 students are selected randomly from the excessive Internet users among the
students, find the probability that 3 of them will have scores higher than 80.
(c) If n scores of (71 σ) and n scores of (71 +σ) are also included in the data set, find
the new standard deviation of the (30 + 2n) scores.
(8 marks)
5. A set of 10 measurements is listed in ascending order as follows:
1.4, 1.2, 0.3, 2.5, 3.2, 5.6, 6.8, 7.1, c.
It is known that the variance is 10.31.
(a) Find c.
(b) Suppose x1, x2, ......, x8 is another set of 8 measurements with mean 2.4 and variance
7.52. Find the mean and the variance of the combined set of 18 measurements.
(8 marks)
1. A football team and a basketball team are formed in a school. The number of members in
each team and some summary statistics of their weights are given as follows:
Number of members Mean Standard deviation
Football team 16 62 kg 7.0 kg
Basketball team 10 67 kg 6.5 kg
It is known that there is only one student belonging to both teams and his weight is 69.5 kg.
Find the mean and standard deviation of the weights of these 25 students, giving the
answers correct to one decimal places.
(6 marks)
224
16.7B Removing an item from the set of data

1. A stem-and-leaf diagram for the test scores of 30 students is shown below:
1 0
2
3 0 2
4 4 5 8 9
5 0 1 2 6 8 8 9 9
6 2 3 3 5 5 8
7 1 2 2 4 4 4
8 2 5
9 1
(a) Find the mean, mode and interquartile range of these scores.
(b) If the score 71 is an incorrect reord and the correct score is 11, which of the statistics in
(a) will have different values?
Find the correct values of these statistics.
(6 marks)
7. Twenty two students in a class attended an examination. The stem-and-lef diagram below
shows the distribution of the examination marks of these students.
3 5 7
4 2 4 6
5 0 3 4 4 4 5
6 1 2 5 5 8
7 3 8 9
8 4 8
9 5
(a) Find the mean of the examination marks.
(b) Two students left the class after the examination and their marks are deleted from the
stem-and-leaf diagram. The mean of the remaining marks is then increased by 1.2 and
there are two modes. Find the two deleted marks.
(c) Two students are randomly selected from the remaining 20 students. Find the
probability that their marks are both higher than 75.
(5 marks)
225

4. The stem-and-leaf diagram below shows the distribution of heights in cm of 32 students:
14 5 5 6 6
15 1 2 2 4 4 5 5 7 7 7 7 7 9
16 0 2 2 5 6 7 8 8 9
17 0 1 2 3 4 4
It is found tht three records less than 150 cm are incorrect. Each of them should be 10 cm
greater than the original record. Find the change in each of the following statistics after
correcting the three records:
(a) the mean,
(b) the median,
(c) the mode,
(d) the range,
(e) the interquartile range.
(6 marks)
4. Albert conducted a survey on the time spent (in hours) on watching television by 16
students. The data recorded are 3.7, 1.2, 2.1, 5.1, 2.1, 4.7, 1.9, 2.4, 2.4, 2.9, 3.6, 2.3, 3.9, 22,
1.8 and k, where k is the missing datum.
(a) Albert assumes that the range of these data is 5.3 hours.
(i) Find the value of k.
(ii) Construct a stem and leaf diagram for these data.
(iii) Find the mean and the median of these data.
(b) Albert finds that the assumption in (a) is incorrecct and he can only assume that the
range of these data is greater than 5.3 hours. Describe the change in the mean and the
change in the median of these data due to the revision of Albert's assumption.
(7 marks)
226

6. A test is taken by a class of 18 students. The marks are as follows:
55 82 74 70 91 75 79 89 68
79 59 72 79 73 60 71 82 k
where k is Jane's mark.
It is known that the mean mark of the class is the same irrespective of including or
excluding Jane's.
(a) Find the value of k.
(b) If 3 students marks are selected randomly from the set of the 18 student marks, find the
probability that exactly 1 of them is the mode of the set of the 18 student marks.
(c) A student mark is classified as an outlier if it lies outside the interval
(μ 2σ,μ+ 2σ), whereμis the mean and σ is the standard deviation of the set of
marks.
(i) Find all the outlier(s) of the set of the 18 student marks.
(ii) In order to assess the students' performance in the test, all outliers are removed
from the set. Describe the change in the median and the standard deviation of the
student marks due to such removal.
(7 marks)
6. There are 18 managers in a company and they can be clssified into two groups A and B
according to their educational background. The following table summarizes some of the
statistics of their monthly salaries (in thousand dollars).
Group Number of Managers Highest Monthly Salary Standard Deviation
A 11 42.5 2.5
B 7 50.1 2.8
(a) It is known that the means of the monthly salaries of the two groups are the same. Find
the standard deviation of the monthly salaries of all the 188 managers.
(b) In a set of n observations ranked in ascending order, let h and k be the nearest integers
3 1
to (n + 1) and (n + 1) respectively. Define the hth and kth observations to be the
4 4
upper and lower quartiles of the set of observations respectively.
(i) If the upper quartiles of the monthly salaries in both group A and group B are
$40 000, determine whether the monthly salary of the manager with the second
highest salary in group A is lower than that in group B.
(ii) If the manager with the highest monthly salary in group B resigns, determine
whether the inter-quartile range of the monthly salaries of the remaining managers
in group B will be increased, unchanged or decreased.
(7 marks)
227

7. Prior to an official talk on pay rise, the Management and the Union of a large enterprise
made two independent sample surveys, seeking to ascertain what percentage increase in
salary was considered approximate by the employees. The results reported by the two
parties are as follows:
Survey Conductor Sample Size Mean Standard Deviation
Management 50 10.7 4.7
Union 30 11.4 1.8
[Note: In this problem, the standard deviation is defined by a formular using n  1 in the
denominator.]
(a) Explain why an experienced statistician would find some of the above figures
surprising.
(b) The statistician found the following three errors in the Management data:
Datum recorded 15.1 5.7 40.1
Correct value 11.5 7.5 10.4
Calculate the correct and standard deviation of the Management data.
(c) On each datum recorded by the Union, the probability of an error is 0.05. If the
statistician found two errors within any 10 consecutive data, he would declare the
survey to be void. Find the probability that the survey was declared void within the
first 11 data checks.
(d) When all the Union data were checked, no error waas found. The survey results were
then combined for presentation to the official talk. Calculate the mean and standard
deviation of the 80 data.
6. A random sample of 11 students was drawn from a school and the weight of each student
was measured. The sample mena and sample standard deviation of these weights were then
calculated to be 48.90 kg and 15.75 kg respectively. On checking the data, it was found that
the weight of Peter, one of the students, was wrongly recorded. After making the necessary
correction, the sample mean and sample standard deviation were found to be 49.08 kg and
15.68 kg respectively.
1  n 2 2
[Note : The sample standard deviation is defined as   xi  n x  .]
n  1  i 1 
(a) Find the actual weight of Peter.

(b) If the sample median, before correction, was 43.67 kg, find the largest and least
possible values of the sample median after correction.
Answer should be given to the nearest 0.01 kg.
(7 marks)
228
16.7D Multiplying each item of the set of data by a common constant

2. In an experiment, temperature of a certain liquid under various experimental settings are
measured. The box-and-whisker diagram for these temperatures (in °C) is constructed
below:
Temperature (oC)
17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27
(a) Find the range (in °C) of the temperatures.

(b) The temperature C (in °C) can be converted to the temperature F (in °F) accoring to
9
the formula F = C + 32.
5
(i) Find the median and interquartile range of the temperatures in °F.
(ii) If the mean and standard deviation of the temperatures are 22°C and 2°C
respectively, find their values in °F.
(6 marks)
229
Chapter 17: Uses and abuses of statistics

17.1 Recognise different techniques in survey sampling and the basic principles
of questionnaire design
17.2 Discuss and recognize the (A) uses and (B) abuses of statistical methods
in various daily-life activities or investigations
7. A reporter wished to find the mean number of children per family in a village. She visited
the only primary school in the village and asked all the pupils there what the number of
children, including themselves, was in each of their families. The data obtained are
presented in the following frequency table:
Number of children in the family 1 2 3 4 5
Number of pupils 10 11 6 9 4
The reporter concludes that the mean number of children per family is
1 10  2  11  3  6  4  9  5  4
10  11  6  9  4
Is her conclusion justified? Explain your answer.
(4 marks)
230

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Math 5** Essential A level questions

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1.0 Linear equations

1.0C Method of substitution

HKCEE Additional Mathematics 98p2:11(a)(i)

HKCEE Additional Mathematics 07:9(a)

HKASL MATHEMATICS AND STATISTICS 95:9(a)

HKASL MATHEMATICS AND STATISTICS 02:10(a)(i)

HKASL MATHEMATICS AND STATISTICS 10:1(a)

where r is a rational number and a is a non-zero integer.

HKAL Applied Mathematics 04p2:2(a)

HKAL Applied Mathematics 06p2:7(a)(i)

HKAL Applied Mathematics 09p2:1(a)

HKAL Applied Mathematics 11p2:4(a)

HKAL Pure Mathematics 10p1:2(a)

HKAL Pure Mathematics 11p1:2(a)

HKAL Pure Mathematics 12p1:1(a)(i)

(a) Prove that

HKAL Pure Mathematics 12p2:8(a)

1.1 Solve quadratic equations by the factor method

HKCEE Additional Mathematics 92p1:5(a)

3. The quadratic equations x2  6x + 2k = 0 and x2  5x + k = 0 have a common rootα.

HKCEE Additional Mathematics 05:7

HKCEE Additional Mathematics 06:6

1.4 Solve quadratic equations by the quadratic formula

HKAL Pure Mathematics 03p1:11(a)(i)

1.5 Understand the relations between the discriminant of a quadratic equation

HKCEE Additional Mathematics 80p1:1

HKCEE Additional Mathematics 85p1:7

HKCEE Additional Mathematics 86p2:3

HKCEE Additional Mathematics 87p1:5(a)

HKCEE Additional Mathematics 91p1:7

HKCEE Additional Mathematics 92p1:6

HKCEE Additional Mathematics 94p1:8(a)(b)

HKCEE Additional Mathematics 01:9

HKAL Pure Mathematics 96p1:3(a)(b)

1.6 Solve problems involving quadratic equations

HKCEE Additional Mathematics 86p1:12(a)

HKCEE Additional Mathematics 80p2:10

HKCEE Additional Mathematics 81p2:5

HKCEE Additional Mathematics 84p1:5

HKCEE Additional Mathematics 85p2:11(a)

HKCEE Additional Mathematics 87p1:11(a)(b)

HKCEE Additional Mathematics 89p1:11(a)(b)(c)(d)

4. α, β are the roots of the quadratic equation x2  (k + 2)x + k = 0.

HKCEE Additional Mathematics 93p1:3

HKCEE Additional Mathematics 93p1:10(a)

HKCEE Additional Mathematics 98p1:2

HKCEE Additional Mathematics 00p1:7

HKCEE Additional Mathematics 03:3

HKCEE Additional Mathematics 11:10

1.9 Perform addition, subtraction, multiplication and division of complex

HKCEE Additional Mathematics 84p1:3

HKCEE Additional Mathematics 87p1:10

HKCEE Additional Mathematics 89p1:6

HKCEE Additional Mathematics 90p1:12(a)

HKCEE Additional Mathematics 93p1:2