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Final Exam Review Problems Part 1

Chapter 1: Functions and polynomials

1. a. Find a polynomial that agrees with each table below. Use each of the three methods discussed in class once (Lagrange interpolation, Sasha’s method, and adding a term to make a formula fit a table at an additional point).

x / f(x)
-3 / -27
4 / 64
6 / 108
9 / 729
10 / 1000
x / g(x)
-2 / 2970
0 / -378
3 / 1440
7 / -504
9 / 5940
x / h(x)
-1 / 2
2 / 23
4 / 47
6 / 527
8 / 2711

b. Suppose one student uses Lagrange to find the polynomial g(x) while another student uses Sasha’s method. They each get polynomials of degree 4. Assuming neither student made errors in applying their method, should the two students’ polynomials be equivalent? Explain why or why not.

2. Given a polynomial of degree 5, list all the possible numbers of distinct real zeros it could have. For each possible number of zeros, sketch a graph showing what the polynomial could look like.

3. a. Divide by .

b.Factor over R.

c. Factor over C.

4. Factor each of the following expressions (over Z unless otherwise specified).

a. (over R)

b.

c.

d. (over R)

e.

f.

g.

5. a. Let . Divide g(x) by (x + 2). Use your result to find g(– 2) without substituting –2 into the formula for g.

b.Let. Find the remainder when h(x) is divided by (x – 1).

6. a. Prove that if (x – a) is a factor of polynomial f(x) thenx = a isa zero of f(x).

b.Prove that for any polynomial f(x) and constant k, (x – k) is a factor of f(x) – f(k).

c.Find a constant k such that (x + 2) is a factor of .

7. Sketch and write an equation for a function that has the following attributes:

  • degree of 5
  • two x-intercepts, at x = –2 and at x = 3
  • y-intercept at y = 4
  • as x approaches infinity, y approaches negative infinity
  • as x approaches negative infinity, y approaches infinity

8.Write a polynomial function formula that could fit each graph below.

a.b.

b.

Chapter 2: Sequences and series

9.Evaluate each sum below using Gauss’ method or Euclid’s method. Show all steps of each method you use!

a.4 + –2 + –8 + … + –62

b.4 + –12 + 36 + … + –972

10. Write each sum below in sigma notation, then evaluate using sum identities.

a. the sum of the odd integers from 3 to 97, inclusive

b. the sum of the first 8 terms of the geometric sequence with initial term 9 and common ratio -2

c. the sum of the first n terms of the arithmetic sequence with third term 10 and fifth term 2

d. the sum of the first n terms of the geometric sequence 18, 6, 2, …

11.Find a closed form formula for the sum. Hint: Write this series as the sum of two other series.

12. Use the sequence to answer the following questions.

a.Imagine you plotted each term of the sequence on the complex plane. Identify the geometric relationship between subsequent terms.

b.Suppose we wanted to know the sum of the entire infinite sequence. Based on the conditions we discussed for when an infinite real number series has a limit, under what conditions do you think an infinite complex series has a limit?

c.After checking your answer to part c, determine whether the sum has a limit. If so, find it.

13. A variation of the Koch snowflake is formed as follows. Start with the unit square. On the middle third of each line segment attach a square pointing outward, then remove the original middle third. Repeat this process forever. Stages 0 through 2 are shown below.

a.Write a series that represents the total area after infinitely many iterations. Find the value of this series if it has a limit.

b.Write a series that represents the total perimeter after infinitely many iterations. Find the value of this series if it has a limit.

n / f(n) / Σ
0 / 1
1 / 3
2 / 6
3 / 10
4 / 15
5 / 21
6 / 28

14. a. Write out rows 0 through 8 of Pascal’s triangle.

b.Circle two different sets of numbers that sum to 70, using the properties of Pascal’s triangle.

c.Let f(n) be defined as in the table below. First, fill in the first cumulative sum column. Then, describe how you could use Pascal’s triangle to find the cumulative sums ΣΣf(n)and ΣΣΣf(n).

d.Expand . Simplify your answer.

e.Find the coefficient of the term of the expansion of without writing out the entire expansion.

Chapter 3: Statistics

15. Suppose we gave a course wide survey about how many weeks of summer students will spend away from Lexington. The data collected are as follows:

Weeks Out of Town / Number of Students
0 / 44
1 / 33
2 / 36
3 / 8
4 / 5
5 / 12
6 / 27
7 / 3
8 / 2

a.Is this data approximately normally distributed? Justify your answer.

b.Find the mean, variance, and standard deviation for the number of weeks a student spends out of town.

16.A standard number cube is rolled, and a spinner with equal fifths labeled 2, 5, 6, 8, and 9 is spun. Find the mean, variance, and standard deviation for the sum of the values obtained from the roll and spin.

17. A sunscreen manufacturer hires a researcher to develop and implement a well-designed experiment to gather information about whether their new formula of sunscreen is more effective than their old formula in preventing sunburns. Researchers collect data about whether study participants get a sunburn after being outside for an extended time and wearing one of the two formulas of sunscreen. Copy and fill in this table twice: once in a way that would show strong evidence that the new formula is more effective, and one that would show possible evidence that the new formula is more effective.

Sunburn / No Sunburn / Total
Old Formula / 250
New Formula / 250
Total / 50 / 450 / 500

18. Let {x1, x2, … xn} be a data set.

a.How does adding a constant c to each element of the data set change the mean and variance? Justify your answer.

b.How does multiplying each element of the data set by a constant k change the mean and variance? Justify your answer.

19. Suppose the Honors Math 3 teachers have a serious lapse in judgment and decide to give a multiple choice final exam. (Note: The probability of this actually happening is zero.) The final consists of 100 multiple choice questions, each with five possible answers, one of which is correct. Now suppose that you also have a serious lapse in judgment and neglect to study, and end up randomly guessing on all questions.

a.Find the mean, variance, and standard deviation for the number of questions you get correct.

b.Find the exact probability that you get between 20 and 30 questions correct, inclusive. Leave your answer expressed as a sum.

c. Explain why and how you can approximate the number of questions you get correct using a Normal distribution. Then use this Normal distribution to find an approximate probability that you get between 20 and 30 questions correct.

d.Find the approximate probability that you get more than 50% of the questions correct.

20. In 2013, the average SAT math score was 514 with a standard deviation of 118, while the average ACT math score was 21.1 with a standard deviation of 5.2. Assume scores on these two assessments are normally distributed.

a.If a student earned a 650 on the SAT and a 28 on the ACT, on which test did the student perform better?

b.What percentage of students nationwide scored higher than a student who earned a 632 on the SAT?

21. An ice cream shop advertises that its small frappes are 16 ounces, but the amount customers actually get is normally distributed with a mean of 14.5 ounces and a standard deviation of 0.4 ounce.

a. Suppose you treat yourself to a small frappe after your math final. Find the probability that your frappe is between 13.7 and 15.3 ounces.

b. Find the probability that your frappe is less than 14 ounces.

c.Imagine the Honors Math 3 teachers decide to treat all their students and themselves to a frappe after their math final. (Unfortunately, like the hypothetical multiple choice final, this is not going to actually happen.) Find the probability that out of all 175 students and 3 teachers, the average we each get is between 15 and 16 ounces. Explain why your answer makes sense.

Answers

1. a.

b. The two polynomials may look different, but are equivalent. The students have come up with two degree four polynomials that agree at five points (the points in the table). By Corollary 1.2.2, the two polynomials are equivalent.

2.A fifth degree polynomial could have 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5 distinct real roots. See below for possible graphs.

3.a.

b.

c.

4. a. Factor by grouping. Group the first two terms and last two terms together, then use GCF factoring.

b. Use difference of cubes identity then simplify.

c.Use find a root, find a factor. Possible factors of 21 are 1, 3, 7, 21. One root is 1, because

. So . Use synthetic or long division to find the quadratic, then factor completely.

d.Make a substitution (ex: u = x2), rewrite as a quadratic then factor. Always remember to substitute back at the end, and continue factoring further if possible.

e. Difference of squares in disguise:

f.Let u = y3. Rewrite as a cubic, then factor by grouping.

g. Factor by grouping, but group first and last term together, and second and third term together. . Factor the first piece using sum of cubes identity, and the second using GCF factoring, then simplify.

5. a. Quotient: , Remainder: -7. By remainder theorem, g(–2) = – 7.

b. h(1) = –12, so by remainder theorem, the remainder is –12.

6. a. We’re given that x – a is a factor of f(x). It follows that f(x) can be written as the product of (x – a) and some other polynomial, q(x). So f(x) = (x – a)(q(x)). But when x = a, we have f(a) = (a – a)(q(x)) = 0. Therefore, by definition of zero, x = a is a zero of f(x).

b. By the Remainder Theorem, the remainder when f(x) is divided by (x – k) is f(k).

The Euclidean property states that f(x) = (x – k) q(x) + f(k). By subtractingf(k) from both sides to get f(x) – f(k) = (x – k) q(x), you can see that f(x) – f(k) can be written as a product of (x – k) and some other function with no remainder. It follows that (x – k) is a factor of f(x) – f(k).

c. In order for (x + 2) to be a factor of , the remainder when we divide by (x + 2) should be 0. Use synthetic division to divide and get a remainder in terms of k, then set equal to 0. Remainder should be 20 + 4k, so that k = -5 would make (x + 2) a factor.

7. (graph to the right)

8. a.

b.

9. a. –348, see steps for Gauss’ method on p. 91

b.–728, see steps for Euclid’s method on p. 92

10.a.

b.

c.

d.

11. Alternating terms starting with the first term belong to a geometric series with a = 1/3 and

r = 3/2.Alternating terms starting with the second term belong to an arithmetic series with

a = 5 and d = –4. Sum these two series separately, then add together.(continued on next page)

12. a. From oneterm to the next we multiply by (1/6)i. Multiplying by i results in a rotation by 90 degrees on the complex plane, while multiplying by the constant 1/6 results in one term being 1/6 as far from the origin as the previous term.

b.Still need , but recall that .

c., so it does have a limit of or .

13.a.With the exception of the first term, this is geometric with a = 4/9, r = 5/9. Since |r| < 1, the geometric part of the series has a limit of . Therefore, the entire series (with the first term) has a limit of 2.

b.

With the exception of the first term, this is geometric with a = 8/3, r = 5/3. Since |r| > 1, the geometric part of the series increases to infinity. So the shape has a finite area but infinite perimeter!

14. a. b. Could circle the two 35 entries right above to the left and right of 70, and a “hockey stick” with the tip of the stick on one of the outer diagonals of the triangle (entries 1, 4, 10, 20, 35).

c.See table for first cumulative sum column. Notice that the f(n) column is the third diagonal of Pascal’s triangle, and the first cumulative sum column is the fourth diagonal of Pascal’s triangle. The entries in the second cumulative sum column can be found in the fifth diagonal of Pascal’s triangle, and the entries in the third cumulative sum column can be found in the sixth diagonal.

d.

e. term will be of the form so coefficient is .

15. a. No. The data are not symmetrical, and there are two peaks in the data (one 0-2 weeks and one 5-6 weeks.

b.mean: 2.4 weeks, variance: 5.275, standard deviation: 2.297

16. Since the outcome from the spin and the die roll are independent, we know the mean and variance of the sum will be equal to the sum of the individual means and variances respectively. It will be more efficient to calculate these individual means and variances then add them than to use other strategies. Also, note that the standard deviation is not additive, so you need to calculate the variance using additivity, then just take the square root to get the standard deviation. mean: 9.5, variance: 8.917, standard deviation: 2.986

17. Since 10% of participants overall got sunburned, if neither sunscreen was more effective than the other, we would expect the number of sunburns participants got while wearing the old formula and the number of sunburns participants got while wearing the new formula to each have mean np = 250(0.1) = 25, and standard deviation . To have strong evidence the new formula is more effective, we could make the number of sunburns with the new formula be less than two standard deviations below the mean, or about 15.

Sunburn / No Sunburn / Total
Old Formula / 35 / 215 / 250
New Formula / 15 / 235 / 250
Total / 50 / 450 / 500

To have possible evidence the new formula is more effective, we could make the number of sunburns be less than 25 but not by so much that it would suggest strong evidence. We could make the number of sunburns be about 1 standard deviation below the mean, or about 20.

Sunburn / No Sunburn / Total
Old Formula / 30 / 220 / 250
New Formula / 20 / 230 / 250
Total / 50 / 450 / 500

18. a. new mean = old mean + c; new variance = old variance

b.new mean = old mean * k; new variance = old variance * k2

19. a. The number of questions you get correct is the number of successes in 100 independent Bernouilli trials, each with probability 1/5 of success. Using the formulas we derived for statistics about successes in Bernouilli’s trials:

mean: 100(0.2) = 20, variance: 100(0.2)(0.8) = 16, standard deviation = 4

b.

c. The Central Limit Theorem states that if X is a random variable with mean and standard deviation , the distribution for the sum of all the outputs of X over n experiments as n gets large is approximately Normal with mean and standard deviation . If you consider a single experiment to be guessing on a single question and the output to be the number correct you get on that guess (0 or 1), then the sum of these outputs after 100 experiments gives you the number of questions you get right in total. The mean for a single trial is p = 0.2 and the standard deviation is The CLT says the number of questions you get right should be normally distributed with mean 100(0.2) = 20 and standard deviation .

normcdf(20, 30, 20, 4) = 0.49

d. normcdf(50, 100, 20, 4) = about 0

20. a. By calculating z-scores for the student’s scores on the SAT and on the ACT you can determine that the student scored 1.153 standard deviations above the mean on their SAT as compared to 1.327 standard deviations above the mean on their ACT. Therefore, they performed better on their ACT than SAT.

b.A 632 is exactly 1 standard deviation above the mean. We know that about 68% of scores will fall within 1 standard deviation of the mean, such that about 32% of scores will fall outside 1 standard deviation of the mean. Half of these scores will be lower than 1 standard deviation below the mean, and half will be higher than 1 standard deviation above the mean. Therefore, about 16% of students nationwide scored higher than 632.

21. a. 13.7 ounces is exactly two standard deviations below the mean and 15.3 is exactly two standard deviations above the mean. We know about 95% of the time normally distributed data should fall within two standard deviations of the mean. So the probability is 0.95.

b.normcdf(0, 14, 14.5, 0.4) = 0.11

c.By second interpretation of CLT, the mean of the outputs over 178 “experiments” should be approximately normally distributed with mean 14.5 and standard deviation . P(avg. between 15 and 16) = normcdf(15, 16, 14.5, 0.02998). This makes sense because with a larger sample size, the standard deviation decreases and the spread of possible results narrows. Therefore, it is extremely unlikely to have our result fall within 15 and 16 ounces.