Maths for Edexcel IGCSE Biology!!

Finding the area of something:

Length X width = area

Finding the surface area ( of a cube ):

Area of 1 surface X no. of surfaces = surface

area

example

A cube with 2.5cm sides has an area of 2.5 x 2.5 x 6 = 37.5cm2

Finding the surface area of a cuboid:

Find the surface area of each different side and multiply by number of sides that size.
Then add them all up together.

example

If this cuboid is 5cm long, 2cm wide and 3cm high

There are two surfaces of area 5x2 cm = 10 x 2 = 20cm2

There are two surfaces of area 5x3 cm = 15 x 2 = 30cm2

There are two surfaces of area 2x3cm = 6 x 2 = 12 cm2

So total surface area = 20cm2 + 30cm2 + 12cm2 = 62cm2

Finding the Volume

length X width X height = volume

So the volume of the cube from above is 5 x 2 x 3 = 30cm3

Finding the mean/average

sum of all the items

number of items

Example

An investigation was carried out to determine the effect of different masses of

hydrogen carbonate on pondweed in a beaker. The number of bubbles released from the
pondweed were counted each minute. The results are shown in the table.

No. of Mass of sodium hydrogencarbonate added to the beaker in g

bubbles of
O2 released 0.0 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5
Minute 1 4 16 29 43 60
Minute 2 3 17 31 29 63
Minute 3 4 15 25 28 57
Mean no.
bubbles 3.67 16.00 28.33 60.00
released/min

Calculate the mean number of bubbles at 2.0g of sodium hydrogencarbonate.

Average = sum of bubbles released at 2.0g = 43 + 29 + 28 = 100 = 33.33

number of minutes counted 3 3
Finding the percentage of something

number of something X 100

total number

Example

The majority of invader species in the UK are plants, of the most recent count of
2,271non native species, 1,798 were plants. Calculate the percentage of invasive species
in the UK that are plants.

1,798 x 100 = 79.1 %

2,271
Finding the percentage change

difference X 100
original number

Example

The table shows the effect of water temperature on the concentration of oxygen of
dissolved oxygen;

Water temperature in oC Concentration of oxygen in mg per litre

5 12.37
10 10.92
15 9.76
20 8.84

Calculate the percentage change in concentration of oxygen when the water

temperature rises from 10oC to 15oC.

10.92 - 9.76 = (-) 10.62

10.92
* note* The O2 level went down so the change is a negative number!
Calculating the energy content of a sample of food

The equation is always given to you in the exam. Just substitute the numbers given to
you.

energy content in J per g = mass of water in g x temp increase in oC x 4.2

mass of food in g

Example

If 1g of a food substance was burnt and raised the temperature of 20cm 3 water by 8.5,
calculate the energy content in J per g.

*note* 1g = 1cm3

energy content in J per g = 20 x 8.5 x 4.2

1
= 714 J per g