OB-81 LECTURE NOTES (FIRST HALF OF COURSE)

THOMAS WARD

Contents
1. Introduction (3 lectures) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
1.1. Algebra 2
1.2. Logarithms 8
1.3. Binomial theorem 8
2. Trigonometry (4 lectures) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
2.1. Angles 10
2.2. Triangles 10
2.3. Right triangles 10
2.4. Trigonometric functions 12
2.5. Cosine and sine rule 12
3. Functions and equations (3 lectures) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
3.1. Solving equations 15
3.2. Graphs of functions 16
3.3. Quadratic formula 17
4. Useful web sites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

These notes are designed to accompany the lectures in the first half
of OB81. Please let me know if you find errors. There will be a current
corrected version on the web at
http://www.mth.uea.ac.uk/˜h720/lecture notes/
Don’t panic if they look very difficult or very easy to you. For some
of you this is useful revision (though please contact me if you are bored)
and for some this is new material (though please contact me if you are
really feeling unable to keep up). The main point of contact outside
the lectures will be seminars every fortnight, but you can come and see
me at any time (my office hours are Wednesday 10-11: at other times
I am happy to meet with you but may be busy with other things).
1
 2 THOMAS WARD

1. Introduction (3 lectures)
Mathematics is very exact. You should develop the habit of reading
your own mathematics and checking that it says what was intended.
The symbols you use all have exact meanings. In particular, avoid
muddling up the following three things:
‘equals’: A = B means that A and B are identical;
‘implies’: A =⇒ B means that A implies B (that is, it means
that whenever A is true, then B must be true; it does not
require that A is true);
‘therefore’: A ∴ B means A is true, therefore B is true.
It will help you to write accurate mathematics if you try and write in
complete sentences – this may feel artificial at first but will make your
own thinking more clear. One good way to check that your mathemat-
ics makes sense is to read it through afterwards.

1.1. Algebra. Algebra begins with the idea that we can go beyond
arithmetic by letting letters represent other things. This allows us
to make statements in a very convenient form, and prove statements
about infinitely many different things in one go. In this section, letters
a, b, c, . . . will denote real numbers.

1.1.1. Powers. For n ≥ 1,

an = a
|×a×
{z· · · × a}
n times

Example: is a multiplied by itself n times or a raised to the nth power. In this

73 = 7 × 7 × 7 = 343 expression, a is the base and n is the exponent. The most important
properties of raising to powers (or exponentiation) are:
Example: • am × an = am+n ;
23 × 22 = 25
• a1 = a for any value of a;
• for a 6= 0, a0 = 1;
• (am )n = amn ;
Example: • a−n = a1n .
2−3 = 81
You cannot combine exponentials with different bases and exponents,
but you can combine them if the base is the same (we have seen that
am × an = am+n ) or if the exponent is the same:
am × bm = (a × b)m .
The inverse operation of ‘raise to the nth power’ is ‘take the nth root’,
Example: so
271/3 = 3 √
a1/n = n a.
 OB-81 LECTURE NOTES (FIRST HALF OF COURSE) 3

Notice that this means

√
n
n
n
a = a1/n = an/n = a,
which is reassuring. Combining all the rules for exponentiation gives
some complicated expressions. √ Example:
64 −1/3
( 27 ) = ( 27 )1/3
Expressions involving things that cannot be simplified, like 3 + 2, 64
271/3 3
= =
are usually best left in that form
√ – though you should always try and 641/3 4

write them in the form a + b c. To do this, there is a specific trick:

√ √
a−b c
if a + b c appears in the denominator, then multiply by a−b√c . The
reason this helps is that
√ √
(a + b c)(a − b c) = a2 − b2 c,
which does not involve any square roots, so the denominator has been
simplified.
Example 1.1. First a simple example:
√ √
1 1 1−2 3 1−2 3 1 2
√
√ = √ × √ = = − 11 + 11
3.
1+2 3 1+2 3 1−2 3 1 − 12
Then a more involved simplification:
√ √ √
3+2 5 3+2 5 1+2 7
√ = √ × √
1−2 7 1−2 7 1+2 7
√ √
(3 + 2 5)(1 + 2 7)
= √ √
(1 − 2 7)(1 + 2 7)
√ √ √
3 + 6 7 + 2 5 + 4 35
=
1−4×7
1 2
√ 2
√ 4
√
= − 9 − 9 7 − 27 5 − 27 35
which does not simplify further.
√
Example 1.2. Simplify the expression ( 3 − 2)−2 .
Solution: There are several ways to do this. Notice that
√ 1
( 3 − 2)−2 = √ .
( 3 − 2)2
First simplify the denominator: we know that
(a + b)2 = a2 + 2ab + b2
as shown in Figure
√ 1.
So taking a = 3 and b = −2 we get Notice the
√ √ √ √ notation:
( 3 − 2)2 = ( 3)2 − 2 · 2 · 3 + 4 = 7 − 4 3. 2 · 3 means 2 × 3
 4 THOMAS WARD

Now deal with the reciprocal as usual:

1 1
√ = √
( 3 − 2)2 7−4 3
√
7+4 3
= √ √
(7 − 4 3)(7 + 4 3)
√
7+4 3
=
49 − 16 × 3
√
= 7 + 4 3.
State complete We conclude that
answer clearly 1 √
√ = 7 + 4 3.
( 3 − 2)2

b ab b2

a a2 ab

a b
Figure 1. Picture proof that (a + b) = a2 + 2ab + b2 .
2

1.1.2. Scientific notation. One of the most important uses of the idea
of exponentiation is to use powers of 10 in scientific notation for large
or small numbers.
Example 1.3. Here are some large and small numbers:
• The Andromeda Galaxy contains at least
200, 000, 000, 000
stars.
• The mass of an alpha particle, which is emitted in the radioac-
tive decay of Plutonium-239, is
0.000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 006, 645 kg.
 OB-81 LECTURE NOTES (FIRST HALF OF COURSE) 5

• In 2002 the United States GDP (Gross Domestic Product) is

predicted to be
$10, 857, 800, 000, 000.
All these expressions are very cumbersome.
The number of stars in the Adromeda Galaxy can be written as:
2.0 × 100, 000, 000, 000.
It is that large number, 100, 000, 000, 000, which causes the problem.
But this is just a multiple of ten:
100, 000, 000, 000 = 1011 .
Notice that the exponent 11 is the number of zeros following the ‘1’.
So we would write 200, 000, 000, 000 in scientific notation as:
2.0 × 1011
This number is read ‘two point zero times ten to the eleventh.’
The number 200, 000, 000, 000 should be written as 2.0 × 1011 , with
the first number chosen to be between 1 and 10. It could also be
written as 20 × 1010 , but by convention the number is usually written
as 2.0 × 1011 so that the lead number is less than 10, followed by as
many decimal places as necessary. It is easy to see that all the variations
above are just different ways to represent the same number:
200, 000, 000, 000 = 20 × 1010 = 2.0 × 1011 = 0.2 × 1012 .
This illustrates another way to think about Scientific Notation: the
exponent will tell you how the decimal point moves; a positive exponent
moves the decimal point to the right, and a negative one moves it to
the left. So for example: 4.0 × 102 = 400 (2 places to the right of 4);
4.0 × 10−2 = 0.04 (2 places to the left of 4).
Negative exponents indicate negative powers of 10, which are ex-
pressed as fractions with 1 in the numerator and the power of 10 in the
denominator (on the bottom). So:
10−1 = 1
10
; 10−2 = 1
100
; 10−3 = 1
1,000
,
and so on.
The key to adding or subtracting numbers in Scientific Notation is
to make sure the exponents are the same. For example,
(2.0 × 102 ) + (3.0 × 103 )
can be rewritten as:
(0.2 × 103 ) + (3.0 × 103 ) = 3.2 × 103 .
6 THOMAS WARD

When multiplying numbers expressed in scientific notation, the expo-

nents can simply be added together. Consider for example:
(4.0 × 105 ) × (3.0 × 10−1 ).
The 4 and the 3 are multiplied, giving 12, and the exponents 5 and −1
are added, so the answer is:
12 × 104 = 1.2 × 105 .
Division is similar:
(6.0 × 108 ) ÷ (3.0 × 105 ) = 2.0 × 103
where we have divided the 6 by the 3 and subtracted the exponents.
Example 1.4. In 2002 the US Gross Domestic Product will be
$10, 857, 800, 000, 000.
and the population will be about
300, 000, 000
Write these numbers in scientific notation, and use this to find the
GDP per capita (that is, per person).
Solution: The population is written 3 × 108 in scientific notation. The
GDP is
1.08578 × 1013 ,
so we need to divide. First the inital terms:
1.08578
= 0.361927
3
and then we subtract the exponents:
1013
= 105 .
108
So our answer is
0.361927 × 105 = 3.61927 × 104
in scientific notation. Two final steps: First, the population figure was
given as approximate, so it is doubtful that all those digits really mean
anything, so round it to
3.6 × 104 .
Second – and very important – is a quick reality check. The answer
we have arrived at is 36 thousand dollars per person GDP. That is
plausible for the US, so we can be confident that our answer is right.
Scientific notation allowed us to deal with those two very large num-
bers easily. The next example is similar.
 OB-81 LECTURE NOTES (FIRST HALF OF COURSE) 7

Example 1.5. Light travels at about 300, 000 kilometres per second in
vacuum. How many metres does light travel in a vacuum in a century? In fact it travels at
Solution: This is an extreme problem – if you try and do it by writing exactly 299, 792, 458
metres per second
out all the numbers in full you will fill a lot of paper and make a lot of in vacuum. This is
mistakes. All we need to do is find out how many seconds there are in exact because since
1983 the metre length
a century and multiply that by the number of metres light travels in a has been defined to
second. 1
be 299,792,458 th of
First the seconds. There are 60 in a minute, of which there are 60 in the distance light
travels in a vacuum
an hour, of which there are 24 in a day... This is already a big number! in one second...
There are
60×60×24 = (6×101 )×(6×101 )×(2.4×101 ) = 86.4×103 = 8.64×104
seconds in a day. So there are
(3.65 × 102 ) × (8.64 × 104 ) = 31.536 × 106 = 3.1536 × 107
seconds in a year. So there are
3.1536 × 109
seconds in a century.
Now think about the speed of light: a kilometre is a thousand or 103
metres, so the speed of light is
3 × 105 km/s = 3 × 108 m/s.
Finally, we multiply the speed by the number of seconds: light travels
(3.1536 × 109 ) × (3 × 108 ) = 9.4608 × 1017
metres in a century. Again, this was a slightly slapdash calculation –
the speed of light was not precise, we ignored leap years and so on. So
a more reasonable answer is: light travels about 9 × 1017 metres in a
century.
The Galaxy STIS 123627+621755, referred to informally as “Sharon,”
was identified by NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope. It is estimated that
light from Sharon takes 10 billion years (that is, 1010 years) to reach
the earth. How far away is Sharon in metres?

1.1.3. Other powers. It will become more clear when you do differen-
tiation that exponentials with other bases are very important. The
expression ab can be defined for any real numbers a and b as long as
a 6= 0. Usually the name ‘exponential function’ is saved for the func-
tion x 7→ ex , where e = 2.71828 . . . is a special number, the base of the
natural logarithms.
 8 THOMAS WARD

1.2. Logarithms. One way of thinking of the formula am+n = am ×an

is this: the exponential operation m 7→ am sends addition to multipli-
cation. The reverse operation is called the ‘logarithm base a’, and takes
multiplication to addition.

Definition 1.6. Let a be a strictly positive number. We say that

y = loga x (log base a of x) if and only if ay = x.

It is not obvious that this really makes sense, but we’ll see from the
graphs later that loga (x) exists for any x > 0.
Only the bases 10 and e are commonly used, giving the common
logarithm function log = log10 and the natural logarithm function ln =
loge .

Example 1.7. To see logarithms in action, check the following using

the definition.
(1) log(1000) = 3;
(2) log(1/100) = −2;
(3) √ × 100)
log(1000
1
= log(1000) + log(100) = 5;
(4) log( 10) = 2 .

The general properties of any logarithm function loga for a > 0 are
Example: as follows:
log(10) + log(100)
= log(1000) = 3 • loga (a) = 1;
• loga (x × y) = loga (x) + loga (y);
• loga (xn ) = n loga (x);
• loga ( x1 ) = − loga (x);
• loga (1) = 0
for any x, y > 0.

1.3. Binomial theorem. The binomial (two-names) theorem gives a

method for expanding expressions like (a+b)n . We’ll initially deal with
whole numbers n. First we need the binomial coefficients,
 
n n!
=
j j!(n − j)!

Example: where n! = n × (n − 1) × (n − 2) × · · · × 1.
A convenient way to

5

= 5·4·3·2·1
3
= 10
3·2·1·2·1 calculate these numbers is to notice that nj is the (j + 1)th entry
in the (n + 1)th row in Pascal’s triangle, obtained by adding the two
 OB-81 LECTURE NOTES (FIRST HALF OF COURSE) 9

numbers above each entry to get the next entry.

1

1 1

1 2 1

1 3 3 1

1 4 6 4 1

1 5 10 10 5 1
The numbers in Pascal’s triangle give the coefficients in binomial ex-
pansions:
(a + b)0 = 1
(a + b)1 = a+b
(a + b)2 = a + 2ab + b2
2

(a + b)3 = a3 + 3a2 b + 3ab2 + b3

(a + b)4 = a4 + 4a3 b + 6a2 b2 + 4ab3 + b4
(a + b)5 = a5 + 5a4 b + 10a3 b2 + 10a2 b3 + 5ab4 + b5

Sometimes the expression we want to expand has other coefficients

which need to be included in the a and b; this is illustrated in the next
example.
Example 1.8. The x3 coefficient in (2 + 12 x)5 is 5. To see this, we can
use Pascal’s triangle as follows. Set a = 2x and b = 21 x; by Pascal’s
triangle the coefficient with a b3 in the expansion of (a + b)5 is 10a2 b3 .
So the expression with an x3 in (2+ 12 x)5 is 10·4· 18 x3 , and the coefficient
is 5.
What this example means is that
(2 + 21 x)5 = 5x3 + expressions not involving x3 .

2. Trigonometry (4 lectures)
Trigonometry is a powerful set of methods for understanding all sorts
of shapes and problems involving angles. Most such problems can be
reduced to problems on triangles, and for these there are three useful
results: Pythagoras’ theorem, the sine rule and the cosine rule.
 10 THOMAS WARD

2.1. Angles. An angle between a pair of lines that cross expresses the
proportion of a whole circle that they subtend. There are two common
ways to do this:
• Degrees: here the whole circle is 360o , so a right angle is 90o ;
• Radians: here the whole circle is 2π radians, so a right angle is
π
2
radians.
Degrees are more familiar, but once you come on to calculus radians
are much easier to work with. Fractions of a degree are measured in
minutes and seconds; a minute is one sixtieth of a degree and a second
is one sixtieth of a minute.
2.2. Triangles. A useful convention for triangles is to label the angles
and the sides as in Figure 2, with angles associated with their opposite
sides. Notice that each angle has exactly one opposite side.
CX
XXX
 XXX a
 XXX
XXX
 XXX
 B
 X

b 
 

 c
 
 
 

A


Figure 2. Notation for triangles.

The first property of triangles holds for any triangle: the angles sum
Sum of angles to 180o :
in a triangle
(2.1) A + B + C = 180o .
2.3. Right triangles. A triangle is a right triangle if one of its angles
is a right angle. In a right triangle each angle other than the right
angle has a unique opposite side and a unique adjacent side. Figure 3
shows this for the angle A. The long side of a right triangle is always
called the hypotenuse.
Pythagorus’ The oldest property of right triangles is Pythagorus’ theorem:
theorem
(2.2) b 2 = a2 + c 2
or
hypotenuse2 =opposite2 +adjacent2
This is one of the oldest theorems in Mathematics, and you should
see at least one proof of it.
 OB-81 LECTURE NOTES (FIRST HALF OF COURSE) 11

C


b =hypotenuse 

  a =opposite side to A
 



A c =adjacent side to A B
Figure 3. Notation for right triangles.

2.3.1. Proof of Pythagorus’ theorem. There are many proofs of this

theorem: the one presented here is very old – it was probably known
to Hindu scholars in India hundreds of years before Pythagorus was
alive.

  C
 C
 C
C C
C C
C C
C C
c C
C
b C
C
C C
C C
 
C 
C  

C 
a
Figure 4. Picture proof of Pythagorus’ Theorem.

In Figure 4, there are four triangles each with area 12 ac. There is one
skew square in the middle with area b2 . It follows that the total area
is
(2.3) total area = 4( 21 ac) + b2 = 2ac + b2 .
On the other hand, the whole figure is a square with side length (a+c),
so
(2.4) total area = (a + c)2 = a2 + 2ac + c2 .
Comparing (2.3) and (2.4) shows that
a2 + c2 = b2 ,
which is Pythagorus’ Theorem.
 12 THOMAS WARD

2.4. Trigonometric functions. Associated with a right triangle are

Definition of three trigonometric functions, which are defined by the properties:
trigonometric opposite
functions • sin(A) = ab = hypotenuse ;
c adjacent
• cos(A) = b = hypotenuse ;
sin(A) opposite
• tan(A) = cos(A) = ac = adjacent .
These relations are often used the other way round: if you know the
angle A and the hypotenuse b, then
• opposite= a = b sin(A);
• adjacent= c = b cos(A).
Notice that we keep these definitions for large angles, by saying that
in Figure 2 if C lies below B, then the length BC is negative. Similarly,
if C is to the left of the vertical through A then AB is negative. Try to
see why (for example) sin(330o ) is negative and cos(110o ) is negative.
Example 2.1. Using these relations, Pythagorus’ theorem can be writ-
ten in a different way:
b2 = b2 sin2 (A) + b2 cos2 (A),
Pythagorus’ so
theorem
(2.5) 1 = sin2 (A) + cos2 (A).
In fact for any three numbers a, b, c satisfying (2.2) there is a right
triangle with those side lengths.
Example 2.2. Find the angles in a right triangle whose longest side
Example of solving is 5 and which has one side length 3.
a right triangle
Solution: The√ longest side is always the hypotenuse, so the third side
has length 52 − 32 = 4. In Figure 3 we can take b = 5, c = 4 and
a = 3. The angle B is 90o , and so by (2.1) we must have A + C = 90o .
It is therefore enough to find A, and for this we can use
a 3
sin(A) = = = 0.6.
b 5
Now from a calculator we see that A = 36o 520 , and therefore the third
angle is C = 53o 80 .
2.5. Cosine and sine rule. For this section, refer again to Figure
2. Notice that each angle has two sides that are adjacent to it, so we
cannot speak of the adjacent side anymore. However, each angle does
have a unique opposite side. There are two main results valid for all
triangles that we will use. The first is a generalization of Pythagorus
Cosine rule called the cosine rule:
(2.6) a2 = b2 + c2 − 2bc cos(A).
 OB-81 LECTURE NOTES (FIRST HALF OF COURSE) 13

Notice that this does generalize Pythagorus: if A = 90o then cos(A) =

0, so the cosine rule reads a2 = b2 + c2 for a right triangle.
Example 2.3. Find a triangle (that is, find the angles) with sides of Example using
cosine rule
length 10m, 20m and 12m.
Solution: First rearrange the cosine rule to express angles in terms of
sides,
b 2 + c 2 − a2
(2.7) cos(A) = ,
2bc
and notice that we can apply these at each corner in turn. Write a = 10,
b = 20 and c = 12. Then
400 + 144 − 100 444
cos(A) = = = 0.925.
2 · 20 · 12 480
Similarly
a2 + c 2 − b 2 156
cos(B) = =− = −0.65
2ac 240
and
a2 + b 2 − c 2 356
cos(C) = = = 0.89.
2ab 400
Therefore
A = 22o 200 , B = 130o 320 , and C = 27o 70 .
Notice that we should have A + B + C = 180o (we are out by one
minute due to rounding errors).
There is one other general property of triangles, the sine rule which Sine rule
states that
a b c
(2.8) = = .
sin(A) sin(B) sin(C)
This can be used to solve a triangle given the length of one side, the
opposite angle, and one further side length or angle.
Example 2.4. A tower T stands on the far side of a river. Two points Example using
sine rule
A and B on this side of the river are chosen which are 200 metres apart.
The angle between AB and AT is measured to be 40o and the angle
between AB and BT is measured to be 30o . How far is the tower from
A?
Solution: The situation is shown in Figure 5. The third angle is given
by (2.1):
T = 180o − 40o − 30o = 110o .
By the sine rule,
AB AT
= ,
sin(T ) sin(B)
14 THOMAS WARD

Tower T
H
HH
 H
 HH
 H
 HH
 H
 HH
 H
 HH
 H
A H
B
Figure 5. How far is the tower from A?

so
AB 200
AT = sin(B) = sin(30o ) = 106.4,
sin(T ) sin(110o )
so the tower T is about 106.4 metres from A.

3. Functions and equations (3 lectures)

A function assigns a number to a given number chosen from a special
set (the domain). You can think of a function as a box that does
something to a number of the right type. There are many different ways
to write functions, but we will usually write something like y = f (x)
or f : x 7→ f (x). You can think of a function as something that acts
on a number of the right sort to give another number.
• The function log takes any positive number and returns a num-
ber:
 
positive x - take logs - log(x)
 

• The exponential function x 7→ 10x takes any real number and

gives a positive number and is the inverse of the logarithm func-
tion:
 
- x 7→ 10 x - 10x
any real x
 

In a function y = f (x) the x and y are called variables because they

are allowed to take on any suitable value.
 OB-81 LECTURE NOTES (FIRST HALF OF COURSE) 15

3.1. Solving equations. There is no ‘method’ for solving equations,

but many special kinds of equations can be solved using algebra. It
may help to see a few equations first.
• 3x + 2 = 8 is a linear equation, which is solved simply by
rearranging:
3x + 2 = 8
∴ 3x = 6
∴ x = 2.

• x2 − 5x + 6 = 0 is a quadratic equation that factorizes in a nice

way:
x2 − 5x + 6 = (x − 2)(x − 3).
So we can argue as follows:
x2 − 5x + 6 = 0
∴ (x − 2)(x − 3) = 0
∴x=2 or x = 3.
• x2 − 6x + 4 = 0 is a quadratic equation that does not seem to
factorize in a nice way. We’ll develop a convenient method later
for these, but I prefer to do it by completing the square: the
only trick here is to notice that Completing the square

(x − 3)2 = x2 − 6x + 9.
So we try and make our equation contain x2 − 6x + 9:
x2 − 6x + 4 = 0
∴ x2 − 6x + 9 = 5
∴ (x − 3)2 = 5
√
∴x−3 = ± 5
√ √
∴x=3+ 5 or x = 3 − 5.
• cos(x) = 0.5 is a trigonometric equation. One solution will be
found easily using a calculator: x = 60o . But if you look at
the graph of cos you’ll find there are infinitely many solutions:
x = 60o + 360o , 60o + 2 × 360o , . . . and so on, as well as x =
−60o , −360o + 60o , −360o − 60o , . . . . In fact the solutions can
be written
x = k × 360o ± 60o for all integers k.
 16 THOMAS WARD

• cos(x) = x (here x is in radians) is an equation that mixes

up trigonometric functions with polynomials, so in general we
cannot hope to solve it with formulas. When all else fails, we
can always draw a graph as in Figure 6 which will tell you (if
you draw it very very carefully) that
x = 0.739085133215160641655312087673873 . . .
I am cheating here:
this very accurate an-
swer was obtained by Pi-
card iteration not from a y y=x
graph.

y = cos(x)

0.739 . . . x
Figure 6. Graph to solve cos(x) = x.

3.2. Graphs of functions. If you want to understand what a function

is really doing, there is nothing better than a graph. Just as with
solving equations, there is no single ‘method’ for sketching a graph:
instead you need to use a mixture of common sense, calculation, and
methods that will come later in the course from calculus. For now we
will just learn the basic language of graphs. For a function y = f (x) the
independent variable x will run along the horizontal axis or abscissa,
and the resulting y values – the dependent variable because it depends
on x – run along the vertical axis or ordinate. The first and simplest
approach to sketching a graph is to compute several points and join
them up with a smooth curve. It is a matter of taste and experience
to decide which range of values to compute.
It is a very good idea to become familiar with the graphs of functions
you use a lot (like sin, cos, simple polynomials, the hyperbola y = x1 ).
Some of the most important functions are sketched in Figures 7 to 14.
A cubic curve. Example 3.1. Sketch the curve y = x3 + x2 − 2x + 3.
Solution: For large positive values of x, y is very large and positive.
Similarly, for large negative values of x, y is large and negative. So
the interesting features will happen when x is quite small (close to 0).
Figure 15 shows a few values (I have worked out more than you would
need to).
 OB-81 LECTURE NOTES (FIRST HALF OF COURSE) 17

0.5

0 1 2 3 4 5 6
x

–0.5

–1

Figure 7. Graph of y = sin(x) for 0 ≤ x ≤ 2π radians.

0.5

0 1 2 3 4 5 6
x

–0.5

–1

Figure 8. Graph of y = cos(x) for 0 ≤ x ≤ 2π radians.

Using these values, the graph can easily be sketched (we will do this
in lectures).

3.3. Quadratic formula. Many problems end up with quadratic equa-

tions and it is useful to be able to solve them easily, and the quadratic
formula does this (though I prefer completing the square!). The general
quadratic equation has the form General quadratic
equation
ax2 + bx + c = 0
18 THOMAS WARD

y
2

–4 –2 0 2 4
x

–2

–4

Figure 9. Graph of y = 1/x for −5 ≤ x ≤ 5 radians.

25

20

15

10

–4 –2 0 2 4
x

Figure 10. Graph of y = x2 for −5 ≤ x ≤ 5.

with a 6= 0 (if a = 0 then it is a linear equation). After dividing by a,

we can write this as
(3.1) x2 + ab x + c
a
= 0.
In order to complete the square, notice that
b 2 b2
= x2 + ab x +


x + 2a 4a2
.
 OB-81 LECTURE NOTES (FIRST HALF OF COURSE) 19

100

50

–4 –2 2 4
x

–50

–100

Figure 11. Graph of y = x3 for −5 ≤ x ≤ 5.

140

120

100

80

60

40

20

–4 –2 0 2 4
x

Figure 12. Graph of y = ex for −5 ≤ x ≤ 5.

So we can write (3.1) as

b 2 b2 b2
= x2 + ab x + − ac .


(3.2) x + 2a 4a2
= 4a2
It is now easy to find the solutions by taking square roots and sub-
b
tracting 2a :
q
b b2 c
x = − 2a ± 4a 2 − a.
 20 THOMAS WARD

x
2 4 6 8 10
0

–1

–2

–3

–4

–5

Figure 13. Graph of y = log(x) for 0 < x ≤ 10.

0.8

0.6

0.4

0.2

–2 –1 0 1 2
x

2
Figure 14. Graph of y = e−x for −2 ≤ x ≤ 2.

Quadratic This can also be written in the more familiar way

formula √
−b ± b2 − 4ac
x= .
2a
There are three possibilities:
• If b2 − 4ac = 0, then the two solutions are identical, so this is
called a double root (cf. Figure 16).
 OB-81 LECTURE NOTES (FIRST HALF OF COURSE) 21

x y

-2.0 3.000
-1.8 4.008
-1.6 4.664
-1.4 5.016
-1.2 5.112
-1.0 5.000
-0.8 4.728
-0.6 4.344
-0.4 3.896
-0.2 3.432
0.0 3.000
0.2 2.648
0.4 2.424
0.6 2.376
0.8 2.552
1.0 3.000
1.2 3.768
1.4 4.904
1.6 6.456
1.8 8.472
2.0 11.00

Figure 15. Points on the curve y = x3 + x2 − 2x + 3.

• If b2 − 4ac > 0, then there are two distinct real roots (cf. Figure
17).
• If b2 − 4ac < 0, then there are no real roots (cf. Figure 18).
3.3.1. Graphs of quadratics. For simplicity we will think of the qua-
dratic equation in the standard form (3.1) (this is to avoid having to
think of a positive and a negative separately). Now solving the equa-
tion (3.1) is exactly the same as asking for the points where the graph
of the function
y = x2 + ab x + ac
crosses the x-axis. Now the three cases for the quadratic equation can
be seen as follows.
Example 3.2. A rectangle has one side 2 metres longer than the other
side. The area of the rectangle is 24 square metres. What are the
lengths of the sides?
22 THOMAS WARD

double root

Figure 16. Quadratic with b2 − 4ac = 0.

Figure 17. Quadratic with b2 − 4ac > 0.

Figure 18. Quadratic with b2 − 4ac < 0.

Solution: Let the rectangle have sides x and (x + 2). Then the given
information says that
x(x + 2) = 24,
which is a quadratic equation. Write this in standard form,
x2 + 2x − 24 = 0.
Now you can either use the quadratic formula or notice a factorisation:
x2 + 2x − 24 = (x − 4)(x + 6).
 OB-81 LECTURE NOTES (FIRST HALF OF COURSE) 23

So
(x − 4)(x + 6) = 0,
which shows that x is either 4 or −6. Since we are looking for a positive
length, the answer must be x = 4, so the rectangle has sides of length
4 metres and 6 metres.
4. Useful web sites
There are on-line mathematics tutorials at several sites, including
http://www.ping.be/math/mathindex.htm
http://www.netsrq.com/˜hahn/calculus.html
http://sunsite.ubc.ca/LivingMathematics/
The figures for Section 1.1.2 come from
http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/budget/
http://particleadventure.org/
http://nedwww.ipac.caltech.edu/
http://science.nasa.gov/
http://hubble.stsci.edu/
There are many beautiful proofs of Pythagorus’ theorem at
http://www.mcn.net/˜jimloy/pythag.html
E-mail address: [email protected]

School of Mathematics, University of East Anglia, Norwich NR4

7TJ, U.K.