Racquel Sanderson

May 15, 2025 · 10:01 am

Perfect Squares

Find all of the positive integers that make the following expression a perfect square.

(1) $\begin{equation*}(x-10)(x+14)\end{equation*}$

Let

$\begin{equation*}(x-10)(x+14)=n^2\end{equation}$

where $n$ is an integer.

Expand and simplify

$\begin{equation*}x^2+4x-140=n^2\end{equation}$

$\begin{equation*}x^2-4x-n^2=140\end{equation}$

Complete the square

$\begin{equation*}(x+2)^2-4-n^2=140\end{equation}$

$\begin{equation*}(x+2)^2-n^2=144\end{equation}$

Factorise (using difference of perfect squares)

$\begin{equation*}(x+2-n)(x+2+n)=144\end{equation}$

Find all of the factors of $144$

$(1,144), (2, 72), (3, 48), (4, 36), (6, 24), (8, 18), (9, 16), (12, 12)$

First pair,

$\begin{equation*}x+2-n=1 \tag {1} \end{equation}$

$\begin{equation*}x+2+n=144 \tag {2} \end{equation}$

$2x=141$

$x$ must be an integer.

I then used a spreadsheet

Hence the integers that make $(x-10)(x+14)$ are perfect square are, $10, 11, 13, 18,$ and $35$ .

Let’s try another one,

$(x-6)(x+14)$

(2) $\begin{equation*}(x-6)(x+14)=n^2\end{equation*}$

$\begin{equation*}(x^2+8x-84=n^2\end{equation}$

$\begin{equation*}(x+4)^2-n^2=100\end{equation}$

$\begin{equation*}(x+4-n)(x+4+n)=100\end{equation}$

Factors of 100,

$(1, 100), (2, 50), (4, 25), (5, 20), (10, 10)$

So the possible integers are $6$ and $22$ .

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Filed under Algebra, Arithmetic, Divisibility, Interesting Mathematics, Puzzles, Quadratic, Solving Equations

Tagged as perfect squares

May 6, 2025 · 7:27 am

Combinations Proof

Prove $\begin{pmatrix}n+1\\r\end{pmatrix}=\begin{pmatrix}n\\r-1\end{pmatrix}+\begin{pmatrix}n\\r\end{pmatrix}$

Let’s start with the right hand side.

$RHS=\begin{pmatrix}n\\r-1\end{pmatrix}+\begin{pmatrix}n\\r\end{pmatrix}$

$RHS=\frac{n!}{(n-(r-1))!(r-1)!}+\frac{n!}{(n-r)!r!}$

Simplify

$RHS=\frac{n!}{(n+1-r)!}+\frac{n!}{(n-r)!r!}$

There is a common denominator of $(n+1-r)!r!$

$RHS=\frac{n!}{(n+1-r)!}\times \frac{r}{r}+\frac{n!}{(n-r)!r!}\times \frac{n+1-r}{n+1-r}$

$RHS=\frac{n!r+n!(n+1-r)}{(n+1-r)r!}$

$RHS=\frac{n!r+(n+1)n!-n!r}{(n+1-r)!r!}$

$RHS=\frac{(n+1)!}{(n+1-r)!r!}$

$RHS=\begin{pmatrix}n+1\\r\end{pmatrix}$

$RHS=LHS$

We know this intuitively from Pascal’s triangle

Where each entry is the sum of the two entries above it – for example,

$6+4=10$

Remember, Pascal’s triangle can be written as combinations,

so $\begin{pmatrix}5\\3\end{pmatrix}=\begin{pmatrix}4\\2\end{pmatrix}+\begin{pmatrix}4\\3\end{pmatrix}$

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Filed under Algebra, Counting Techniques, Year 11 Mathematical Methods

May 3, 2025 · 3:34 am

Geometry Puzzle

Another puzzle from this book

Two ladders are propped up vertically in a narrow passageway between two vertical buildings. The ends of the ladders are 8 metres and 4 metres above the pavement.
Find the height above the ground, $T$ ,

$\Delta ABC \sim \Delta TEC$ and $\Delta DCB \sim \Delta TEB$ (Angle Angle Similarity)

Hence,

(1) $\begin{equation*}\frac{h}{8}=\frac{x}{x+y}\end{equation*}$

(2) $\begin{equation*}\frac{h}{4}=\frac{y}{x+y}\end{equation*}$

From equation $1$ $h=\frac{8x}{x+y}$ and from $2$ $h=\frac{4y}{x+y}$

Hence, $\frac{8x}{x+y}=\frac{4y}{x+y}$

Therefore, $8x=4y$ and $y=2x$

From equation $1$

$\begin{equation*}h=\frac{8x}{3x}=\frac{8}{3}\end{equation}$

Hence $T$ is $2 \frac{2}{3}$ m above the ground.

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Filed under Geometry, Puzzles, Similarity, Simplifying fractions, Solving Equations

Tagged as Puzzle

April 30, 2025 · 6:08 am

Factorising Non-Monic Quadratics

The general equation of a quadratic is $ax^2+bx+c$

Let’s explore different methods of factorising a non-monic quadratic (the $a$ term is not $1$ )

Factorise $6x^2+x-12$

We need to find two numbers that add to $1$ and multiply to $-72$ (i.e. add to $b$ and multiply to $a\times c)$

The two numbers are $9$ and $-8$

Method 1 – Splitting the middle term

This is the method I teach the most often

$\begin{equation*}6x^2+x-12\end{equation}$

Split the middle term (the $b$ term) into the two numbers

$\begin{equation*}6x^2-8x+9x-12\end{equation}$

The order doesn’t matter.

Find a common factor for the first term terms, and then for the last two terms.

$\begin{equation*}2x(3x-4)+3(3x-4)\end{equation}$

There is a common factor of $(3x-4)$ , factor it out.

$\begin{equation*}(3x-4)(2x+3)\end{equation}$

Method two – Fraction

$\begin{equation*}6x^2+x-12\end{equation}$

Put $6x$ into both factors and divide by $6$

$\begin{equation*}\frac{(6x-8)(6x+9)}{6}\end{equation}$

Factorise

$\begin{equation*}\frac{2(3x-4)3(2x+3)}{6}\end{equation}$

$\begin{equation*}\frac{6(3x-4)(2x+3)}{6}\end{equation}$

$\begin{equation*}(3x-4)(2x+3)\end{equation}$

Method 3 – Monic to non-monic

$\begin{equation*}y=6x^2+x-12\end{equation}$

Multiply both sides of the equation by $a$

$\begin{equation*}6y=6(6x^2+x-12)\end{equation}$

$\begin{equation*}6y=6^2x^2+6x-72\end{equation}$

$\begin{equation*}6y=(6x)^2+6x-72\end{equation}$

Let $A=6x$

$\begin{equation*}6y=A^2+A-72\end{equation}$

Factorise

$\begin{equation*}6y=(A+9)(A-8)\end{equation}$

Replace the $A$ with $6x$

$\begin{equation*}6y=(6x+9)(6x-8)\end{equation}$

$\begin{equation*}6y=3(2x+3)2(3x-4)\end{equation}$

$\begin{equation*}6y=6(2x+3)(3x-4)\end{equation}$

$\begin{equation*}y=(2x+3)(3x-4)\end{equation}$

Method 4 – Cross Method

$\begin{equation*}6x^2+x-12\end{equation}$

Place the two numbers in the cross

Place the two numbers that add to $1$ and multiply to $-72$ in the other parts of the cross.

Divide these two numbers by $6$ (i.e $a$ )

Simplify

Hence,

$\begin{equation*}(x-\frac{4}{3})(x+\frac{3}{2})\end{equation}$

Which is

$\begin{equation*}(3x-4)(2x+3)\end{equation}$

Method 5 – By Inspection

This is my least favourite method – although students get better with practice

$\begin{equation*}6x^2+x-12\end{equation}$

The factors of $a$ are $1, 2, 3,$ and $6$ and the factors of $12$ are $1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 12$

We know one number is positive and one number negative.

Which give us all of these possibilities

$\begin{equation*}(2x+3)(3x-4)\end{equation}$

With a bit of practice you don’t need to check all of the possibilties, but I find students struggle with this method.

Method 6 – Grid

$\begin{equation*}6x^2+x-12\end{equation}$

Create a grid like the one below


	$6x^2$
		$-12$

Find the two numbers that multiply to $-72$ and add to $1$ and place them in the other grid spots (see below)


	$6x^2$	$-8x$
	$9x$	$-12$

Find the HCF (highest common factor) of each row and put in the first column.

Row $1$ HCF= $2x$ , Row $2$ HCF= $3$


$2x$	$6x^2$	$-8x$
$3$	$9x$	$-12$

For the columns, calculate what is required to multiple the HCF to get the table entry.

For example, what do you need to multiple $2x$ and $3$ by to get $6x^2$ and $9x$ ? In this case it is $3x$ . It’s always going to be the same thing, so just use one value to calculate it,

	$3x$	$-4$
$2x$	$6x^2$	$-8x$
$3$	$9x$	$-12$

The factors are column $1$ and row $1$
$(2x+3)(3x-4)$

The two methods I use the most are splitting the middle term, and the cross method, but I can see value in the grid method.

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Filed under Algebra, Factorising, Factorising, Polynomials, Quadratic, Quadratics

Tagged as Factorising, factorising non-monic trinomials, non-monic quadratics

April 23, 2025 · 9:30 am

Problem Solving

I am came across this problem and was fascinated. It’s from this book

At first I went straight to the 14-sided polygon, and tried to draw the diamonds (parallelograms), but then I thought let’s start smaller and see if there is a pattern.

Clearly a square contains 1 diamond (itself).

Pentagon

It’s not possible with a pentagon.

Hexagon

A hexagon has 6 diamonds

Septagon

I am guessing it’s not possible to fill a regular 7-sided shape with diamonds

It’s not possible with odd numbers of sides. Regular polygons with an odd number of sides have no parallel sides, so we can’t cover it with rhombi (which have opposite sides parallel).

Octagon

An octagon has 6 diamonds.

We know a decoagon has 10 diamonds (from the question)

Let’s put together what we know

$n$	$4$	$6$	$8$	$10$
Diamonds	$1$	$3$	$6$	$10$

These are the triangular numbers, so when $n=12$ the number of diamonds is $15$ , and for $n=14$ it’s $21$ .

We can work out a rule for calculating the number of diamonds given the number of sides.

Because the difference in the $n$ values is not $1$ , I am going to get $n$ and $D$ in terms of $k$ and then combine the two equations.

From the above table, $n=2k+2$

We know this rule is quadratic as the second difference is constant, hence

$D=\frac{1}{2}k^2+bk+c$

$\begin{equation*}1=\frac{1}{2}+b+c\end{equation}$

(1) $\begin{equation*}\frac{1}{2}=b+c\end{equation*}$

$\begin{equation*}3=\frac{1}{2}2^2+2b+c\end{equation}$

(2) $\begin{equation*}1=2b+c\end{equation*}$

Solve simultaneously, subtract equation $1$ from equation $2$

(3) $\begin{equation*}\frac{1}{2}=b\end{equation*}$

Substitute for $b=\frac{1}{2}$ into equation $1$

$\begin{equation*}\frac{1}{2}=\frac{1}{2}+c\end{equation}$

$c=0$ , therefore $D=\frac{1}{2}k^2+\frac{1}{2}k$

We know $n=2k+2$ hence $k=\frac{n-2}{2}$

Hence $D=\frac{1}{2}(\frac{n-2}{2})^2+\frac{1}{2}(\frac{n-2}{2})$

$D=\frac{1}{8}(n^2-4n+4)+\frac{1}{4}(n-2)=\frac{n^2}{8}-\frac{n}{2}+\frac{1}{2}+\frac{n}{4}-\frac{1}{2}=\frac{n^2}{8}-\frac{n}{4}$

$\begin{equation*}D=\frac{n^2}{8}-\frac{n}{4}\end{equation}$

Let’s test our rule for $n=14$

$\begin{equation*}D=\frac{14^2}{8}-\frac{14}{4}=\frac{49}{2}-\frac{7}{2}=\frac{42}{2}=21\end{equation}$

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Filed under Area, Geometry, Interesting Mathematics, Puzzles, Quadratics

Tagged as Finding a quadratic rule, regular polygons, rhombus, tessellations

April 21, 2025 · 11:08 am

Area/Geometry Problem

This problem is from The Geometry Forum Problem of the Week June 1996

In triangle ABC, AC=18 and D is the point on AC for which AD=5. Perpendiculars drawn from D to AB and CB have lengths of 4 and 5 respectively. What is the area of triangle ABC?

I put together a diagram (in Geogebra)

Add points P and Q

Triangle APD and triangle DQC are right angled. Using pythagoras, $AP=3$ and $QC=12$

$BQDP$ is a cyclic quadrilateral and $BD$ is the diameter. I am not sure if this is useful, but it is good to notice.

$\begin{equation*}sin(A+B+C)=sin(180)=0\end{equation}$

$\begin{equation*}sin((A+C)+B)=sin(A+C)cosB+sinBcos(A+C)=0\end{equation}$

$\begin{equation*}cosB(sinAcosC+sinCcosA)+sinB(cosAcosC-sinAsinC)=0\end{equation}$

$\begin{equation*}cosB(\frac{4}{5}\times\frac{12}{13}+\frac{5}{13}\times\frac{3}{5})+sinB(\frac{3}{5}\times\frac{12}{13}-\frac{4}{5}\times\frac{5}{13})=0\end{equation}$

$\begin{equation*}cosB(\frac{48}{65}+\frac{15}{65})+sinB(\frac{36}{65}-\frac{20}{65})=0\end{equation}$

$\begin{equation*}\frac{63}{65}cosB+\frac{16}{65}sinB=0\end{equation}$

$\begin{equation*}63cosB+16sinB=0\end{equation}$

$\begin{equation*}63+16tanB=0\end{equation}$

$\begin{equation*}tanB=\frac{-63}{16}\end{equation}$

If $tanB=\frac{-63}{16}$ then $sinB=\frac{63}{65}$

Now,

$\begin{equation*}\frac{y+12}{sinA}=\frac{18}{sinB}\end{equation}$

$\begin{equation*}y+12=\frac{4}{5}(18)\frac{65}{63}\end{equation}$

$\begin{equation*}y+12=\frac{104}{7}\end{equation}$

Hence the Area is

$\begin{equation*}A=\frac{1}{2}(18)(\frac{104}{7})sinC\end{equation}$

$\begin{equation*}A=\frac{1}{2}(18)(\frac{104}{7})\frac{5}{13}\end{equation}$

$\begin{equation*}A=\frac{360}{7}=51.43\end{equation}$

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Filed under Area, Finding an area, Geometry, Identities, Non-Right Trigonometry, Pythagoras, Trigonometry

Tagged as area, area of triangles, problem solving

April 16, 2025 · 8:26 am

Binomial Expansion – deriving the formula for Variance

We have seen how the formula for mean (expected value) was derived, and now we are going to look at variance.

In general variance of a probability distribution is

(1) $\begin{equation*} Var(X)=E(X^2)-(E(X))^2\end{equation*}$

We are going to start by calculating $E(X^2)$

$\begin{equation*}E(X^2)=\sum_{x=0}^nx^2p(x)\end{equation}$

$\begin{equation*}E(X^2)=\sum_{x=0}^nx^2\begin{pmatrix}n\\x\end{pmatrix}p^x(1-p)^{n-x}\end{equation}$

$\begin{equation*}E(X^2)=\sum_{x=0}^n x^2\frac{n!}{(n-x)!x!}p^x(1-p)^{n-x}\end{equation}$

The $x^2$ cancels with the $x!$ to leave $x$ on the numerator and $(x-1)!$ on the denominator.

Also, when $x=0, x^2=0$ and we can start the sum at $x=1$

$\begin{equation*}E(X^2)=\sum_{x=1}^n x\frac{n!}{(n-x)!(x-1)}!p^x(1-p)^{n-x}\end{equation}$

Let $y=x-1$ and $m=n-1$ , when $x=n, y=n-1$ and hence $y=m$ and when $x=1, y=0$

Our equation is now

$\begin{equation*}E(X^2)=\sum_{y=0}^m (y+1)\frac{(m+1)!}{(m+1-(y+1))!y!}p^{y+1}(1-p)^{m+1-(y+1)}\end{equation}$

Simplify

$\begin{equation*}E(X^2)=\sum_{y=0}^m(y+1)\frac{(m+1)!}{(m-y)!y!}p^{y+1}(1-p)^{m-y}\end{equation}$

$\begin{equation*}E(X^2)=\sum_{y=0}^m(y+1)(m+1)\frac{m!}{(m-y)!y!}p\times p^y(1-p)^{m-y}\end{equation}$

$\begin{equation*}E(X^2)=\sum_{y=0}^m p(y+1)(m+1)\frac{m!}{(m-y)!y!} p^y(1-p)^{m-y}\end{equation}$

$\begin{equation*}E(X^2)=\sum_{y=0}^m p(y+1)(m+1)p(y)\end{equation}$

$\begin{equation*}E(X^2)=p(m+1)(\sum_{y=0}^myp(y)+\sum_{y=0}^mp(y))\end{equation}$

$\sum_{y=0}^mp(y)=1$ and $\sum_{y=0}^myp(y)=E(Y)$

$\begin{equation*}E(X^2)=p(m+1)(E(Y)+1)\end{equation}$

$E(Y)=mp$

$\begin{equation*}E(X^2)=p(m+1)(mp+1)\end{equation}$

$m+1=n$

$\begin{equation*}E(X^2)=pn((n-1)p+1)\end{equation}$

$\begin{equation*}E(X^2)=n^2p^2-np^2+np\end{equation}$

Now from equation $1$

$\begin{equation*}Var(X)=E(X^2))-(E(X))^2\end{equation}$

$\begin{equation*}=Var(X)=n^2p^2-np^2+np-n^2p^2\end{equation}$

$\begin{equation*}Var(X)=-np^2+np\end{equation}$

(2) $\begin{equation*}Var(X)=np(1-p)\end{equation*}$

and the standard deviation is

(3) $\begin{equation*}\sigma_X=\sqrt{np(1-p)}\end{equation*}$

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Filed under Algebra, Binomial, Probability Distributions, Standard Deviation

Tagged as binomial distribution, standard deviation of a binomial distribution, variance of a binomial distribution

April 13, 2025 · 9:23 am

Binomial Distribution – deriving the equation for mean (expected value)

The mean, $\mu$ of a binomial distribution is

(1) $\begin{equation*}\mu=np\end{equation*}$

where $n$ is the number of trials and $p$ is the probability of success.

For any discrete probability distribution , the expected value or mean is

(2) $\begin{equation*}E(X)=\sum_{x=0}^nxp(x)\end{equation*}$

For example, if a coin is tossed $3$ times and the number of heads is recorded, the distribution is

$X$	$0$	$1$	$2$	$3$
$P(X=x)$	$\frac{1}{8}$	$\frac{3}{8}$	$\frac{3}{8}$	$\frac{1}{8}$

$\begin{equation*}E(X)=0\times\frac{1}{8}+1\times\frac{3}{8}+2\times\frac{3}{8}+3\times{1}{8}\end{equation}$

$\begin{equation*}E(X)=\frac{12}{8}=\frac{3}{2}\end{equation}$

I want to show how the $\mu=np$ formula is derived from the general formula (equation $(2)$ ).

$\begin{equation*}E(X)=\sum^n_{x=0}xp(x)\end{equation}$

For a binomial distribution, $p(x)=\begin{pmatrix}n\\x\end{pmatrix}p^x(1-p)^{n-x}$

$\begin{equation*}E(X)=\sum_{x=0}^nx\begin{pmatrix}n\\x\end{pmatrix}p^x(1-p)^{n-x}\end{equation}$

$\begin{equation*}E(X)=\sum^n_{x=0}x\frac{n!}{(n-x)!x!}p^x(1-p)^{n-x}\end{equation}$

The $x$ can cancel with the $x!$ to leave $(x-1)!$ on the denominator.

$\begin{equation*}E(X)=\sum^n_{x=0}\frac{n!}{(n-x)!(x-1)!}p^x(1-p)^{n-x}\end{equation}$

Also, when $x=0 \Rightarrow xp(x)=0$ , hence the sum can start at $x=1$ .

$\begin{equation*}E(X)=\sum^n_{x=1}\frac{n!}{(n-x)!(x-1)!}p^x(1-p)^{n-x}\end{equation}$

Let $y=x-1$ and $m=n-1$

When $x=n \Rightarrow y=n+1=m$

$\begin{equation*}E(X)=\sum^{m}_{y=0}\frac{(m+1)!}{((m+1)-(y+1))!(y)!}p^{y+1}(1-p)^{(m+1)-(y+1)}\end{equation}$

Simplify

$\begin{equation*}E(X)=\sum^{m}_{y=0}\frac{(m+1)!}{((m-y))!(y)!}p^{y+1}(1-p)^{(m-y)}\end{equation}$

$\begin{equation*}E(X)=\sum^{m}_{y=0}\frac{(m+1)m!}{((m-y))!(y)!}p^yp^1(1-p)^{(m-y)}\end{equation}$

We can move $(m+1)$ and $p$ out of the sum.

$\begin{equation*}E(X)=(m+1)p\sum^{m}_{y=0}\frac{m!}{((m-y))!(y)!}p^y(1-p)^{(m-y)}\end{equation}$

$\begin{equation*}\sum^{m}_{y=0}\frac{m!}{((m-y))!(y)!}p^y(1-p)^{(m-y)}=\sum^{m}_{y=0}\begin{pmatrix}m\\y\end{pmatrix}p^y(1-p)^{(m-y)}\end{equation}$

$\begin{equation*}\sum^{m}_{y=0}\begin{pmatrix}m\\y\end{pmatrix}p^y(1-p)^{(m-y)}=1\end{equation}$

As it is the sum of the probabilities of a binomial distribution with $m$ trials.

Hence $E(X)=(m+1)p=np$

Next, deriving the variance formula for a binomial distribution.

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Filed under Binomial, Mean, Probability Distributions

Tagged as binomial distribution, expected value, mean

April 7, 2025 · 9:09 am

The vector projection (vector resolution or vector component) of $\mathbf{a}$ onto a non-zero vector $\mathbf{b}$ is splitting $\mathbf{a}$ into two vectors, one is parallel to $\mathbf{b}$ (the vector projection) and one perpendicular to $\mathbf{b}$

In the above diagram $\mathbf{a_1}$ is the vector projection of $\mathbf{a}$ onto $\mathbf{b}$ and $\mathbf{a_2}$ is perpendicular to $\mathbf{b}$ .

How do we find $\mathbf{a_1}$ and $\mathbf{a_2}$ ?

Using right trigonometry,

$cos(\theta)=\frac{|\mathbf{a_1}|}{|\mathbf{a}|}$

Remember the scalar product (dot product) of vectors is

(1) $\begin{equation*}\mathbf{a}\cdot\mathbf{b}=|\mathbf{a}||\mathbf{b}|cos(\theta)\end{equation*}$

Hence $cos(\theta)=\frac{\mathbf{a}\cdot\mathbf{b}}{|\mathbf{a}||\mathbf{b}|}$

$\frac{\mathbf{a}\cdot\mathbf{b}}{|\mathbf{a}||\mathbf{b}|}=\frac{|\mathbf{a_1}|}{|\mathbf{a}|}$

and, $|\mathbf{a_1}|=\frac{\mathbf{a}\cdot\mathbf{b}}{|\mathbf{a}||\mathbf{b}|}\times|\mathbf{a}|$

$|\mathbf{a_1}|=\frac{\mathbf{a}\cdot\mathbf{b}}{|\mathbf{b}|}$

This is the scalar projection of $\mathbf{a}$ onto $\mathbf{b}$

To find the vector projection we need to multiply by $\mathbf{\hat{b}}$ , that is find a vector with the same magnitude as $\mathbf{a_1}$ in the direction of $\mathbf{b}$ .

The vector projection is

$\mathbf{a_1}=\frac{\mathbf{a}\cdot\mathbf{b}}{|\mathbf{b}|}\times \mathbf{\hat{b}}$

$\mathbf{a_1}=\frac{\mathbf{a}\cdot\mathbf{b}}{|\mathbf{b}|}\times \frac{\mathbf{b}}{|\mathbf{b}|}$

$\mathbf{a_1}=\frac{\mathbf{a}\cdot\mathbf{b}}{(|\mathbf{b}|)^2}\times \mathbf{b}$

Now for $\mathbf{a_2}$ , we know $\mathbf{a}=\mathbf{a_1}+\mathbf{a_2}$

Hence, $\mathbf{a_2}=\mathbf{a}-\mathbf{a_1}$

Example

From Cambridge Year 11 Specialist Mathematics (Chapter 3)

(a) $\frac{\mathbf{a}\cdot\mathbf{b}}{|\mathbf{b}|^2}\mathbf{b}$

$=\frac{\begin{pmatrix}4\\1\end{pmatrix}\cdot\begin{pmatrix}1\\-1\end{pmatrix}}{2}\times(\mathbf{i}-\mathbf{j})$

$=\frac{3}{2}{(\mathbf{i}-\mathbf{j})$

(b) $4\mathbf{i}+\mathbf{j}-\frac{3}{2}{(\mathbf{i}-\mathbf{j})=\frac{5}{2}\mathbf{i}+\frac{5}{2}\mathbf{j}$

(c)

The shortest distance (green vector) is the vector component of $\mathbf{a}$ perpendicular to $\mathbf{b}$ , i.e. $\frac{5}{2}\mathbf{i}+\frac{5}{2}\mathbf{j}$

$|\frac{5}{2}\mathbf{i}+\frac{5}{2}\mathbf{j}|=\sqrt{\frac{25}{4}+\frac{25}{4}}=\sqrt{\frac{50}{4}}=\frac{5\sqrt{2}}{2}$

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Filed under Right Trigonometry, Trigonometry, Vector Projection, Vectors, Year 11 Specialist Mathematics

Tagged as dot product, scalar product, scalar projection, vector projection

April 6, 2025 · 1:51 am

Using a Vector Method to Find an Angle Bisector

Points $A$ and $B$ are defined by the position vectors $\mathbf{a}=3\mathbf{i}+4\mathbf{j}$ and $\mathbf{b}=12\mathbf{i}+5\mathbf{j}$ .

Find a vector that bisects $\angle{AOB}$ .

If we think about how we add vectors using the parallelogram rule

Finding the resultant vector using the parallelogram rule

we can take advantage of the geometric properties of parallelograms (or of a rhombus).

If $\mathbf{a}$ and $\mathbf{b}$ are unit vectors, then the parallelogram is a rhombus, and the diagonal (i.e the resultant) bisects the angle.

We need to find the sum of the unit vectors.

$|\mathbf{a}|=\sqrt{3^2+4^2}=5$

$\therefore \hat{\mathbf{a}}=\frac{3}{5}\mathbf{i}+\frac{4}{5}\mathbf{j}$

$|\mathbf{b}|=\sqrt{12^2+5^2}=13$

$\therefore \hat{\mathbf{b}}=\frac{12}{13}\mathbf{i}+\frac{5}{13}\mathbf{j}$

The vector that bisects $\angle{AOB}$ is

$\frac{3}{5}\mathbf{i}+\frac{4}{5}\mathbf{j}+\frac{12}{13}\mathbf{i}+\frac{5}{13}\mathbf{j}=\frac{99}{65}\mathbf{i}+\frac{64}{65}\mathbf{j}$

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Filed under Geometry, Vectors, Year 11 Specialist Mathematics

Tagged as bisecting an angle, vectors, Year 11 Specialist Mathematics

Possible factorisations	$b$ term of expansion
$(x-1)(6x+12)$	$12x-6x=6x$	No
$(x-2)(6x+6)$	$6x-12x=-6x$	No
$(x-3)(6x+4)$	$4x-18x-14x$	No
$(2x-1)(3x+12)$	$24x-3x=21x$	No
$(2x-2)(3x+6)$	$12x-6x=6x$	No
$(2x-3)(3x+4)$	$8x-9x=-1x$	Almost, switch the signs
$(2x+3)((3x-4)$	$-8x+9x=1x$	Yes

Perfect Squares

Combinations Proof

Geometry Puzzle

Factorising Non-Monic Quadratics

Method 1 – Splitting the middle term

Method two – Fraction

Method 3 – Monic to non-monic

Method 4 – Cross Method

Method 5 – By Inspection

Method 6 – Grid

Problem Solving

Pentagon

Hexagon

Septagon

Octagon

Area/Geometry Problem

Binomial Expansion – deriving the formula for Variance

Binomial Distribution – deriving the equation for mean (expected value)

Vector and Scalar Projection

Example

Using a Vector Method to Find an Angle Bisector

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