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The following very brief notes cover a few of the basic things you should know from Extension
1 Mathematics before attempting the Assumed Knowledge Quiz. For further assistance, you
should consult a high school text book. You may also find the worksheets at
http://www.maths.unsw.edu.au/currentstudents/revision-worksheets
helpful.
Polynomials.
1. Basics:
We say that n is the degree of the polynomial p(x), and write deg(p(x)) = n. If the polyno-
mial is non-zero constant then it has degree 0. The zero polynomial does not have a degree.
an is called the leading co-efficient and a0 is called the constant term. If an = 1 we say that
the polynomial is monic.
In this section we are going to see how to factor polynomials (if possible) and use this
to solve polynomial equations.
2. Operations on Polynomials:
We can add and subtract polynomials in the obvious way, for example
(3x7 − 2x5 + x4 − 9x − 10) + (2x5 + 7x4 − 2x3 + 12) = 3x7 + 8x4 − 2x3 − 9x + 2.
Polynomials can also be divided using the long division algorithm from primary school.
1
x3 − 2x2 − 2x
x−1 )x4 − 3x3 + 0x2 + 2x − 4
x4 − x3
−2x3 + 0x2
−2x3 + 2x2
−2x2 + 2x
−2x2 + 2x
0x − 4
The quotient is x3 − 2x2 − 2x and the remainder is −4.
where the degree of the remainder r(x) is less than the degree of the divisor b(x), or r(x) = 0.
If we divide by a linear factor (x − a) then the remainder can be obtained without ac-
tually doing the division.
Proof: We write p(x) = (x − a)q(x) + r where r is a constant since it has degree smaller
than 1, i.e. degree 0. Put x = a in both sides and the result follows.
p(−2) = −8+24+26−42 = 0 so the remainder is 0. This means that x+2 is a factor of p(x).
If one polynomial q(x) exactly divides another polynomial p(x) we say that q is a factor
of p. In particular, a linear polynomial x − a is a factor of a polynomial p(x) if the remainder
2
p(a) is zero. We can exploit this idea to factorise polynomials.
In practice, if the constant term is a, we try all the (positive and negative) factors of a.
p(1) 6= 0, p(−1) = 0 so p(x) = (x + 1)(x2 + 3x − 10) = (x + 1)(x + 5)(x − 2) and hence the
roots are −1, −5, 2.
http://www.maths.unsw.edu.au/currentstudents/revision-worksheets
n n!
Cr =
r!(n − r)!
Ex. Find 8 C3 , 5 C0 .
3
The numbers in Pascal’s triangle are given by the n Cr formula. In fact, we can write
(1 + x) = 1 C0 + 1 C1 x
(1 + x)2 = 2 C0 + 2 C1 x + 2 C2 x2
(1 + x)3 = 3 C0 + 3 C1 x + 3 C2 x2 + 3 C3 x3
(1 + x)4 = 4 C0 + 4 C1 x + 4 C2 x2 + 4 C3 x3 + 4 C4 x4
and so on. The general form is
(1 + x)n = n
C0 + n
C1 x + n
C2 x2 + ... + n
Cn xn
(a + b)n = n
C0 an + n
C1 an−1 b + n
C2 an−2 b2 + ... + n
Cn bn
Generally, when expanding out we use Pascal’s triangle rather than the n Cr formula, but
the formula is very useful in doing other more theoretical problems. The general term in the
expansion of (a + b)n is !
n n−r r n
Cr a b = an−r br .
r
Ex: Find the co-efficient of x8 and the constant term in the expansion of (2x3 − x1 )12 .
! !
12 12
The general term is (2x ) × 3 12−r
= 212−r × x36−4r × (−1)r . Now
(− x1 )r
r r
!
12
36 − 4r = 8 when r = 7 and so the coefficient of x8 is 25 × (−1)7 = −25344.
7
The constant
! term will appear when 36 − 4r = 0 and so r = 9. Hence the constant term is
12
23 × (−1)9 = −1760.
9
Integration by Substitution.
du du
Put u = x2 , then dx
= 2x. Hence we can symbolically replace x dx by 2
. The integral
then becomes
1Z u 1 1 2
I= e du = eu + C = ex + C.
2 2 2
Harder Inequalities.
4
http://www.maths.unsw.edu.au/currentstudents/revision-worksheets
To solve this we multiply top and bottom by the square of (x + 1) which will not affect
the inequality sign, since this quantity is positive (provided x 6= −1).
Thus
x−1 x−1
≤5⇒ × (x + 1)2 ≤ 5 × (x + 1)2 ⇒ (x − 1)(x + 1) ≤ 5(x + 1)2 .
x+1 x+1
Now move the terms to the right hand side and factorise, giving
This last step is done by sketching the graph of y = (x + 1)(4x + 6), as shown in the
sheet on Polynomial Inequalities.
Note that you CANNOT multiply by (x + 1) as a first step since we do not know if this is
positive or negative.
Further Trigonometry