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1990 Paper 2 Q9
Rating: 1500.0

Show by means of a sketch that the parabola \(r(1+\cos\theta)=1\) cuts the interior of the cardioid \(r=4(1+\cos\theta)\) into two parts. Show that the total length of the boundary of the part that includes the point \(r=1,\theta=0\) is \(18\sqrt{3}+\ln(2+\sqrt{3}).\)


Solution:

TikZ diagram
The curves will intersect when: \begin{align*} && \frac{1}{1+\cos \theta} &= 4 (1 + \cos \theta) \\ \Rightarrow && 1 + \cos \theta &= \pm \frac{1}{2} \\ \Rightarrow && \cos \theta &= -\frac12 \\ \Rightarrow && \theta &= \pm \frac{2\pi}{3}, \end{align*} Therefore we can measure the two sides of the boundaries. For the cardioid it will be: \begin{align*} s &= \int_{-2\pi/3}^{2 \pi /3} \sqrt{r^2 + \left ( \frac{\d r}{\d \theta} \right)^2} \d \theta \\ &= \int_{-2\pi/3}^{2 \pi /3}\sqrt{r^2 + \left ( \frac{\d r}{\d \theta} \right)^2} \d \theta \\ &= \int_{-2\pi/3}^{2 \pi /3}\sqrt{16(1 + \cos \theta)^2 + 16 \sin^2 \theta} \d \theta \\ &= 4\int_{-2\pi/3}^{2 \pi /3}\sqrt{2 + 2 \cos \theta} \d \theta \\ &= 8\int_{-2\pi/3}^{2 \pi /3}\sqrt{\cos^2 \frac{\theta}{2}} \d \theta \\ &= 8\int_{-2\pi/3}^{2 \pi /3}|\cos \frac{\theta}{2}| \d \theta \\ &= 16\int_{\pi}^{2\pi/3}(-\cos \frac{\theta}{2}) \d \theta + 8\int_{-\pi}^{\pi}\cos \frac{\theta}{2} \d \theta \\ &= 16 \cdot \left [ 2\sin \frac{\theta}{2}\right]_{\pi}^{2\pi/3}+ 8 \cdot 4 \\ &= 16 \cdot (\sqrt{3}-2) + 8 \cdot 4 \\ &= 16\sqrt{3} \end{align*} For the parabola we have that \(\sqrt{x^2+y^2} + x = 1 \Rightarrow x^2 + y^2 = 1 - 2x + x^2 \Rightarrow y^2 = 1-2x\). So we can parameterise our parabola as \(y = t, x = \frac{1-t^2}2\). And we are interested in the points \(t = -\sqrt{3}\) and \(t =\sqrt3\) \begin{align*} &&s &= \int_{-\sqrt3}^\sqrt3 \sqrt{\left ( \frac{\d x}{\d t} \right)^2 + \left ( \frac{\d y}{\d t} \right)^2 } \d t \\ &&&= \int_{-\sqrt3}^\sqrt3 \sqrt{t^2+1^2} \d t \\ \sinh u = t, \frac{\d t}{\d u} = \cosh u&&&= \int_{-\sinh^{-1} \sqrt3}^{\sinh^{-1}\sqrt3} \cosh^2 u \d u \\ &&&= \left [\frac12 u + \frac14 \sinh(2u) \right ]_{-\sinh^{-1} \sqrt3}^{\sinh^{-1}\sqrt3} \\ &&&= \sinh^{-1} \sqrt{3} + 2\sqrt{3} \\ &&&= \ln(2 + \sqrt{3}) + 2\sqrt{3} \end{align*} Therefore the total distance is as required.

1990 Paper 1 Q5
Rating: 1500.0

  1. Evaluate \[ \int_{1}^{3}\frac{1}{6x^{2}+19x+15}\,\mathrm{d}x\,. \]
  2. Sketch the graph of the function \(\mathrm{f}\), where \(\mathrm{f}(x)=x^{1760}-x^{220}+q\), and \(q\) is a constant. Find the possible numbers of \textit{distinct }roots of the equation \(\mathrm{f}(x)=0\), and state the inequalities satisfied by \(q\).


Solution:

  1. \begin{align*} \int_{1}^{3}\frac{1}{6x^{2}+19x+15}\,\mathrm{d}x &= \int_1^3 \frac1{(2x+3)(3x+5)} \d x \\ &= \int_1^3 \l \frac{2}{2x+3} - \frac{3}{3x+5} \r \d x \\ &= \left [\ln(2x+3) - \ln(3x+5) \right ]_1^3 \\ &= \l \ln9 - \ln14 \r - \l \ln 5 - \ln 8 \r \\ &= \ln \frac{72}{70} \\ &= \ln \frac{36}{35} \end{align*}
  2. TikZ diagram
    When \(q = 0\) the roots are \(-1, 0, 1\) There can be \(0, 2, 3, 4\) roots. There will be no roots if \(q > -\min (x^{1760} - x^{220})\) since the whole graph will be above the axis. There will be \(2\) roots if \(q = -\min (x^{1760} - x^{220})\) or \(q > 0\) There will be \(4\) roots if \(0 > q > -\min (x^{1760} - x^{220})\). There will be \(3\) roots if \(q =0\)

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