HSC Mathematics Marathon (6 Viewers)

largarithmic

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:( circle geo and now probability, how do you know my weaknesses......i vote hax!
they're basically my favourite parts of the course :p do you have another topic youd prefer? a more conventional one lol (Im thinking demoivres/polynomials/complexy things you can get cool questions with those)?
 

K4M1N3

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Yeah, sure why not....there is no way im going to get that probability Q.
 

largarithmic

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Yeah, sure why not....there is no way im going to get that probability Q.
its a cool question to think about. the answers really random anyway, its always 1/2 lol

um try this, from q8 in my trial but its considerably easier than it looks I reckon

Factorise into quadratic factors with real coefficients, and hence prove that:

 

hup

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and


So combining the answer is 2.


Now try this question, it's from my trial. It's pretty neat too.

is a polynomial of degree with real coefficients, where is an odd positive integer, satisfying:

for each of .
(In other words, ).

By considering the polynomial , find the leading coefficient of and hence find .

for the question from your trial are the answers

(i)0,1,2,...n
(ii)x(x-1)(x-2)....(x-n), so leading term A = 1
(iii)P(n+1) = [(n+1)/(n+2)][1+n!] ?
 

largarithmic

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for the question from your trial are the answers

(i)0,1,2,...n
(ii)x(x-1)(x-2)....(x-n), so leading term A = 1
(iii)P(n+1) = [(n+1)/(n+2)][1+n!] ?
I can't remember if theres a part (i), but the answers to (ii) and (iii) are wrong. Just because a polynomial Q[x] has roots a,b,c,... doesn't mean Q[x] = (x-a)(x-b)(x-c)... .
 

hup

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its a cool question to think about. the answers really random anyway, its always 1/2 lol

um try this, from q8 in my trial but its considerably easier than it looks I reckon

Factorise into quadratic factors with real coefficients, and hence prove that:

 

Trebla

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What Trebla said and in addition Put cos theta + sin theta in the form R cos alpha and then using the symmtery property (ie. integral from 0 to a f(x) = integral from 0 to a f(a-x)) and then use log laws.

Btw, where did you get that question from?
Didn't think to do auxilliary method (though that works nicely)...what I was thinking was basically from the substitution you get:

 
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artosis

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its a cool question to think about. the answers really random anyway, its always 1/2 lol

um try this, from q8 in my trial but its considerably easier than it looks I reckon

Factorise into quadratic factors with real coefficients, and hence prove that:

Did u do ur HSC last year?
Thats the last question of this year's Sydney Grammer trial :S
 

largarithmic

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Didn't think to do auxilliary method (though that works nicely)...what I was thinking was basically from the substitution you get:

Thats how my teacher did it. I dont really like it that much coz its a bit random, like theres no clear motivation to go from line 1 to line 2 other than guesswork. If you do auxiliary angles, you can sorta metagame the question the whole way through.

And artosis, I haven't done the HSC yet, I'm doing it this year. And yes I said q8 from my trial, because I am Sydney Grammar's 2011 cohort :p
 

artosis

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ahh i thought ud already completed ur HSC last year, since ure so good at maths.

help me with my question :) the thread below this one
 

deterministic

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Anyway try this really nice probability question.

Alice and Bob take turns flipping a coin. Alice flips the coin N+1 times, and Bob flips it N times, where N is a positive integer. Alice 'wins' if she gets strictly more heads than Bob does. (e.g. if N=5 and Alice gets 4 heads 2 tails, while Bob gets 3 heads 2 tails, Alice wins; whereas if Bob got 4 heads 1 tail, she doesnt; and if he got all heads, he doesn't). Find the probability that Alice wins (in terms of N if necessary).
This is a very nice probability question

Replace heads with tails and Alice winning to Alice losing, then the answer becomes obvious by symmetry. (i.e. for Alice to lose, she needs to flip strictly more tails than Bob does and P(Alice lose)=P(Alice wins) by symmetry).
 

largarithmic

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Yep thats correct ^^ It's a kinda nice result, there are lots of nice problems out there with similar methods. For a muuuuch harder and more abstract thing a bit like it, if you feel like trying it, try (but I really meant it with much harderr):

For some fixed n, let a1, a2, a3, ..., an be real numbers such that the following is true:

If we define , then for .

Now find F[n+1].

The problems similar to the other in that its about solving an n-variable simultaneous equation system. And the solution method is similar too, but much harder and more fun :p

EDIT: you may as well assume n is odd too.


This is a very nice probability question

Replace heads with tails and Alice winning to Alice losing, then the answer becomes obvious by symmetry. (i.e. for Alice to lose, she needs to flip strictly more tails than Bob does and P(Alice lose)=P(Alice wins) by symmetry).
Yeah thats right :) One of the nicest probability questions ive come across.
 
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seanieg89

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The solution is fairly similar, except two transformations were required for this one. Don't really have time to write down a complete solution but the end result is:

Some clever manipulations with binomial coefficients could probably put it in a nicer form.
 
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largarithmic

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The solution is fairly similar, except two transformations were required for this one. Don't really have time to write down a complete solution but the end result is:

Some clever manipulations with binomial coefficients could probably put it in a nicer form.
Interestingly I guess I got something pretty different :p I'm not entirely sure its correct though. I got (after a bit of manipulation):



I'm pretty sure our answers are out by an order of magnitude.

I only required one transformation; consider:


which is clearly a degree 2n polynomial with roots 1,2,...,n; but since it is also even you know -1,-2,...,-n are also roots. Then you factorise it and sub x = 0 to get the leading coefficient, and then plug in (n+1).
 

seanieg89

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As a test of solutions, when n=1, we are forced to have a_1=2. So F(2)=2/5. I think your expression comes out as 1/5 at 1. Your method sounds reasonable though, so im not really sure why somethings going wrong.
 

largarithmic

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As a test of solutions, when n=1, we are forced to have a_1=2. So F(2)=2/5. I think your expression comes out as 1/5 at 1. Your method sounds reasonable though, so im not really sure why somethings going wrong.
Oh I realised I got my method wrong, I defined Q incorrectly :p The minus one at the end should be multiplied by (x^2+1)...(x^2 + n); i.e. you need



You then get the same thing, as in Q has the same 2n roots, except its degree is now at most 2n instead of exactly 2n because after you expand the square brackets you have the difference of two degree 2n polynomials. That doesn't really matter though coz you still have the 2n roots to factorise it. Find the leading coefficient blah, and the answer you get for F(n+1) is the same as what you got ^^

Want another random question of this flavour lol (I know some that are number theoretic as well as polynomialy)?
 

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