Re: HSC 2014 4U Marathon - Advanced Level
Its not a typo. And yeah, the answer is 1. I had to use exponents to do it, though happy to be shown an easier way
Re: HSC 2014 4U Marathon - Advanced Level
The USSR Olympiad Problem book by Shklarsky has a small but deeply insightful chapter on the algebra of polynomials. Chapter 8, i think. All questions have worked solutions too.
I am not sure how helpful this is for you, but I think that being prepared to take a break from a question with the intention of coming back to it later is important. Especially with the latter questions e.g. circle geometry involving multiple circles or questions that are flooded with \sum 's...
I am sure that says something about the lack of elegance in my solution. Here it is without the tex
\begin{align*}
abc &= 1
\Rightarrow ((a+1)-1)((b+1)-1)((c+1)-1) &= 1\\
(a+1)(b+1)(c+1) - [(a+1)(b+1)+(a+1)(c+1)+(b+1)(c+1)] + [(a+1)+(b+1)+(c+1)] -1 &= 1\\
\textrm{Dividing through by...
Pappus' Centroid Theorem as a check on volumes. Which is here: http://mathworld.wolfram.com/PappussCentroidTheorem.html. But I have a feeling that if you can apply correctly in exam conditions, you are probably good enough to get volumes right anyway.