Applied Maths Mock

subway_ie

Hi,
I'm in serious need of some help in Applied - ive got my mock tomorrow morning at 09:00, and I've only got 3 questions properly prepared so far - im still struggling on question one and two, could anybody give me some hints as to what type of questions these were (eg - question two - shortest distance, rivers, etc).
Thanks in advance for any help

Mutant_Fruit

my mock is on friday, so unfortunately i can;t help you as regards questions.

But a bit of advice for handling the exam

1) Remember applied maths is a method exam. If you can't get something out right, it doesn't matter hugely. One mark is lost per slip, and 3 per blunder. So, one slip could make something not work out, but you still get 49/50.

2) If you're unsure about a question, and think you cant do it, dont panic. Do as much as you can, and then guess as much as you can, you will probably get marks. If you can't figure out something, try everything. i.e. in Q1, if you can;t figure out what to do, use all your formulae (v=u+at etc) and fill in as much info as you can. This gets marks.

3) Read every question often. After each re-read something new might click, and you might realise what to do.

Other than that, good luck

PrecariousNuts

And they put in words like "just" and "barely" for a reason, I can't remember how many questions I messed up because of those words.

subway_ie

Hey,
Thanks Mutant_Fruit, great advice. I'll try and bluff my way through it as much as i can, but what was throwing me off was that our teacher told us that there was something that we hadnt ever touched on on "one of the questions you all do fairly often", and thats a baddddd thing. Basically, i need to get out 3 questions perfectly 50/50, in order to get a respectable pass. Im aiming for 4 fully out and an attempt at a fifth, so im relying on being able to question one and/or question two. I can scan tomorrows paper for you tomorrow if you want?

Mutant_Fruit

no thanks, i'm aiming to get an A in applied maths, so i need to be absolutely sure where i stand, i can't be looking at papers before hand.

Luckily for me, i did applied maths in 5th year outside school (and i thought it was the hardest thing ever), and now i'm doing it again in 6th year (and i think its the easiest thing ever). Not only that, but i'm doing it in school too. So i'm gonna be damn good at it.

PrecariousNuts

I just found out there the last day that you can do those Linear accelerated motion questions using calculus. I've only tried it on the ones where it asks "A is 60m ahead of B, what is the minimum retardation B needs to avoid a crash" and it seems to work nicely.

Get your SA and SB expressions, then distance between them = 60 + SA - SB. Work out ds/dt and you're laughing!

subway_ie

Oh. My. God. The applied paper was worse than I could’ve imagined. Question 3 – wtf was the 2nd part about??? Question 4 – what’s l? Question 10 – messed up integrals, partial fractions. Question one was deceptively easy. Arghhh. I might scrape an C. Hopefully. If I’m lucky. Soooooooooo bad.

PrecariousNuts

What was question three asking?

I've finished mine but I'm doing applied maths outside school so I actually have no idea where I stand

subway_ie

Question 3 a was basically just find the maz range of a projectile fired with a projection speed u on an inclined plane. Very easy. Part B, however, was a little different:
(B) A naval boat cruises slowly towards an enemy gunner on top of a cliff of height 300m above sea level. If the shell speed of the boat is x and the shell speed of the gunner is y, find the distance travelled by the boat while within range of the enemy gunner, but unable to strike him, to the nearest metre.

(x and y were given as numbers in the question, i left them out in case people would be tempted to try and solve it before their mock. It wont make it impossible to do, just a little more theoretical)
Question 1 - Sound
Question 2 - Very much like the regular stuff, could be taken straight from a past paper.
Question 3 - as above, tricky
Question 4 - I didnt like it, most people seem to have gotten it out though
Question 5 - Interesting freewheeling part (B)
Question 8 - Regular proof, along with another slightly unusual part (B) - its in our book, but we never really spent much time on it.
Question 9 - fairly same ol' same ol'
Question 10 - Pretty easy, part (A) has (cosX)^3, which isnt on the course, part (B) isnt so bad.
After looking back through the paper, and talking to my teacher, i think i got close to B2, maybe a B1, so its not *that* bad, but its still pretty sh1t.

PrecariousNuts

I think I know what to do but how can one do it without knowing the initial speed of either projectile?

Boat range should be Sx when Sy is 300m
Gunner just use Sx (I think, I'll try work it out and see)
Actually presumed it was fired horizontally for some reason, probably better at an angle.

or am I wrong?

ooh ok, no idea how to do it.

subway_ie

I think I know what to do but how can one do it without knowing the initial speed of either projectile?

Boat range should be Sx when Sy is 300m
Gunner just use Sx (I think, I'll try work it out and see)
Actually presumed it was fired horizontally for some reason, probably better at an angle.

or am I wrong?

Yeah, i used Sx when Sy is 300m, and youre provided with the muzzle velocities for both the gunner and the naval ship, i just didnt write them so people would actually have a slight challenge during the mock. I didnt get it out, but i implemented the right method and was about 3/4 of the way through it.

PrecariousNuts

Ah right! Velocities would make it incredibly easier. I'm going to go with the gunner firing horizontally to keep things simple. And the boat fires at an angle which you can break up easily.

Paper doesn't sound too bad overall then, did you do statics or does everyone stay away from them?

And what about that rigid body rotation chapter? Is that a popular one or should I stay clear of it?

I'm tempted to do that question simply because of the fact it has a real use for integration, I simply wet myself when I find new uses for them. Was thinking of doing a young scientist entry on optimising stuff using calc but I didn't for some reason... you know using rates of change... right? RIGHT??

subway_ie

Whoa. You're worse than my physics teacher. Calm down.
Rigid body rotation isn't so bad - personally, I dont like it and i think im going to stick with 1,2,3,4,5,10 and 9 if im stuck or have enough time, which i probably will.
The velocities in question three do make it easier - but when youre confronted with that radical new question in the exam, it does seem alot harder. The whole experience of doing the exam where youre faced with all these new challenges was, on reflection, pretty good. Even if i did freak out a little afterwards thinking i was going to get a C or something.
I'm not sure wheter statics or rigid body rotation is question 9 - thats the one with the maths tables proofs in it, usually a nice question if you know the proof, and youre nearly guranteed to get a proof in the exam.
We haven't done question 6 yet - but that question seems sooooo nice, plus its one of the questions which has a major overlap with the physics course.
Once again, I stress: wetting yourself about integration, not good. Differentiation maybe. Trig even. But integration - no. Get a hold of yourself man.

PrecariousNuts

Integration > trig

subway_ie

Obviously you havent fully experienced the joys of Pg. 9 yet. Pfff

The Weatherman

did someone give a link to an applied maths paper? one with a password maybe....?