Maths C1 Notes

Algebra and Functions

Law of Indices







Examples



Surds
Surds: an expression involving a root, squared or cubed etc.
Some basic rules when dealing with surds:




Also:

ifference of Two Squares
%he diIIerence oI two squares:

Rationalising Surds
When you have a Iraction where both the nominator and denominator are surds,
rationalising the surd is the process oI getting rid oI the surd on the denominator.
%o rationalise a surd you multiply top and bottom by Iraction that equals one. %ake
the example shown below

%o rationalise this multiply by eIIectively 1

Can you see why was chosen? %his is because so the
denominator becomes surd Iree.
For a more complex term

First oI all, we need to get rid oI the surd expression on the bottom, you should
remember the diIIerence oI two squares Iormula.

suppose a 1 and b

So to get rid oI the denominator surd we multiply by like so.




In general
O Fractions in the Iorm multiply top and bottom by
O Fractions in the Iorm multiply the top and bottom by
O Fractions in the Iorm multiply the top and bottom by
Sequences and Series
Sequences and Series
ust a short revision summary Ior this one - there are more than enough questions in
the Heinemann books!
Proof of sum of arithmetic series

(where L
is the last term oI the series)


Add these two:


Since L is the last term, we know it equals , where n is the number
oI terms oI the series in the sum.



Proof of sum of geometric series

(we have no need Ior L this time)


%ake the Iirst Irom the second:




Sum oI convergent geometric series to inIinity. %his only happens when -1 r 1,
because iI r is any larger than one (or minus one), r
n
will tend to inIinity rather than
zero as n tends to inIinity (as it does when you continue the series to inIinity!), which
will mean there is no sum to inIinity.

So we have:


As n tends to inIinity, r
n
tends to zero, so (1 - r
n
) tends to one, so:
tends to

And this is the sum to inIinity oI a convergent geometric series.

Integration

Surds
A simple explanation is that a surd is the square root oI a number which is not a
perIect square. II you look in your textbook (why?) it will say that surds are roots that
cannot be expressed as rational numbers. %his means that most roots are surds: ,
, , the list goes on. You can try and work them out on a calculator, but that
will only give you an estimate, accurate to ten decimal places or so - it's not exact.
Surds are all "irrational" numbers - that means they can't be expressed as Iractions, so
their decimal expansions go on Iorever with no real pattern. (Fractions like or go
on Iorever too, but they start repeating themselves aIter a while.)
Manipulations of surds
%here are two basic identities you need to know.
O . For example, .
O . For example,

IMPORTANT: %here are no simple identities Ior adding and subtracting surds - in
most cases, something like can't be simpliIied!
Simplifying surds
For example:



%o simpliIy a surd , you have to Iind the largest perIect square that divides .
Above, that was 36. You then separate the two to get something oI the Iorm .
Sometimes this isn't easy - think oI something like ! II you can't immediately
Iind the largest Iactor, then, it's a good idea to get rid oI smaller Iactors to simpliIy the
problem. For example:



In extreme cases, just Iactorise the whole number (like in GCSE) and look Ior
repeated Iactors:



Hooray Ior calculators!
Rationalising the denominator
%his is the tricky bit. When you're dealing with Iractions, Edexcel hates it when you
leave surds on the bottom - you have to "rationalise the denominator". For example:



See what we did there? We wanted to get rid oI the surd Irom the denominator, so we
multiplied top and bottom by the surd. %hat's basically it. Another example:



%here are some Iractions where this method won't work, though, because the
denominator has more than one term in it. In that case, we have to use the /ifference
of two squares. %ake a look:



%he irrational bit cancels, making liIe easier Ior us all!

Inequalities
%he basics oI inequalities:
O - means a is less than b (so b is greater than a)

O - means a is less than or equal to b (so b is greater than or equal to a)

O - means a is greater than or equal to b etc

O - means a is greater than b etc
Solving Inequalities
II you have an inequality, you can add or subtract numbers Irom each side oI the
inequality, as with an equation. You can also multiply or divide by a constant. %his is
all done the same way as with equations. %here is one diIIerence however - iI you
multiply or divide by a negative number, the inequality sign is reversed.
Example
Solve: .




(note: sign reversed because we divided by -2)
Ranges of Values
Inequalities can be used to describe what range oI values a variable can be. E.g.
,
means is greater than or equal to 4 but less than 10.
II was limited to whole numbers, then it could be either 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 or 9, but not 10.
Graphs of Inequalities
Inequalities are represented on graphs using shading. For example, iI , the
graph oI would be drawn. %hen we shade a region oI the graph depending on
what we are asked to do. II we need to shade the points the inequality represents, then
we'd shade the points here is larger than (i.e. above the line). II we shade the
region not represented by the inequality, we'd shade the area where is less than
(i.e. the region below the line).
Example
and
(NB: this is the same as the two inequalities and )

Represent these inequalities on a graph by leaving unshaded the required regions (i.e.
do not shade the points which satisIy the inequalities, but shade everywhere else).
(diagram oI this graph is needed here)
Number Lines
Inequalities can also be represented on number lines. Draw a number line and above
the line draw a line Ior each inequality, over the numbers Ior which it is true. At the
end oI these lines, draw a circle. %he circle should be Iilled in iI the inequality can
equal that number and leIt unIilled iI it cannot.
Example
On the number line below show the solution to these inequalities.


%his can be split into the two inequalities:
and
And so:
and
thereIore:
and .
%he circle is Iilled in at 2 because the Iirst inequality speciIies that x can equal 2,
whereas x is less than (and not equal to) 3 and so the circle is not Iilled in at 3.
(diagram needed illustrating this example.)
%he solution to the pair oI inequalities occurs where the two lines overlap on the
number line, i.e. Ior .