Questions

WORKSHEET - Mathematics (Advanced)

1. Geometry and Calculus, 2UA 2016 HSC 14c
10. Geometrical Applications of Differentiation
Maxima and Minima A farmer wishes to make a rectangular enclosure of area m². She uses an existing
straight boundary as one side of the enclosure. She uses wire fencing for the remaining
Teacher: James Butterworth three sides and also to divide the enclosure into four equal rectangular areas of width m as
Exam Equivalent Time: 160.5 minutes (based on HSC allocation of 1.5 shown.
minutes approx. per mark)

i. Show that the total length,

m, of the wire fencing is given by

(1 mark)

ii. Find the minimum length of wire fencing required, showing why this is the minimum length.
(3 marks)

2. Geometry and Calculus, 2UA 2010 HSC 5a

A rainwater tank is to be designed in the shape of a cylinder with radius metres and
HISTORICAL CONTRIBUTION
height metres.
T10 Geometry and Calculus is the single largest topic within the Mathematics
course, contributing 15.0% to each paper, on average, in the last 10 years.
This topic has been split into three sub-categories: 1-Maxima and Minima (5.3%), 2-Curve
Sketching and The Primitive Function (7.6%), and 3-Tangents and Normals (2.1%).

2017 HSC ANALYSIS - What to expect and common pitfalls

Maxima and Minima (5.3%) problems appear in every exam and have been worth 5-10
marks.
Max/Min problems will typically ask students to prove an equation in the earlier parts. This
forms the basis of later questions and is typically targets Band 4 level - a good opportunity The volume of the tank is to be cubic metres. Let be the surface area of the tank,
for all students to score well. including its top and base, in square metres.
Important exam strategy: HSC Markers consistently remind students to work with the given (i)
equation in later parts of the question, even if they couldn't successfully complete the proof. Given that , show that . (2 marks)

Area/Volume themes have dominated in recent times, being asked in 2010, 2011, 2012, (ii) Show that has a minimum value and find the value of for which the minimum
2014, 2015 and 2016. The most recent questions asked not concerning Area/Volume looked occurs. (3 marks)
at distance (2013) and a cost equation (2009).
Max/Min problems represent the key differentiating topic area of the best results. A great
area to work on to outperform and slide down the bell curve.
3. Geometry and Calculus, 2UA 2005 HSC 8a 4. Geometry and Calculus, 2UA 2014 HSC 16c
The diagram shows a window consisting of two sections. The top section is a semicircle of
diameter m. The bottom section is a rectangle of width m and height m.
The entire frame of the window, including the piece that separates the two sections, is made
using m of thin metal.

The semicircular section is made of coloured glass and the rectangular section is made of
clear glass.
A cylinder of radius and height is to be inscribed in a sphere of radius centred at
as shown. Under test conditions the amount of light coming through one square metre of the coloured
glass is unit and the amount of light coming through one square metre of the clear glass is
(i) Show that the volume of the cylinder is given by units.
(1 mark) The total amount of light coming through the window under test conditions is units.
(ii) Hence, or otherwise, show that the cylinder has a maximum volume when
(i) Show that . (2 marks)

(3 marks) (ii)
Show that . (2 marks)

(iii) Find the values of and that maximise the amount of light coming through the
window under test conditions. (3 marks)
5. Geometry and Calculus, 2UA 2009 HSC 9b 6. Geometry and Calculus, 2UA 2008 HSC 10b
An oil rig, , is km offshore. A power station, , is on the shore. A cable is to be laid from
to . It costs per kilometre to lay the cable along the shore and per
kilometre to lay the cable underwater from the shore to .
The point is the point on the shore closest to , and the distance is km.
The point is on the shore, at a distance of km from , as shown in the diagram.

The diagram shows two parallel brick walls and joined by a fence from to
. The wall is metres long and . The fence is metres long.
A new fence is to be built from to a point somewhere on . The new fence
will cross the original fence at .
Let metres, where .
(i) Find the total cost of laying the cable in a straight line from to and then in a (i) Show that the total area, square metres, enclosed by and is
straight line from to . (1 mark) given by
(ii) Find the cost of laying the cable in a straight line from to . (1 mark)
. (3 marks)
(iii) Let be the total cost of laying the cable in a straight line from to , and then in
a straight line from to . (ii) Find the value of that makes as small as possible. Justify the fact that this value
of gives the minimum value for . (3 marks)
Show that . (2 marks)
(iii) Hence, find the length of when is as small as possible. (1 mark)
(iv) Find the minimum cost of laying the cable. (4 marks)

(v) New technology means that the cost of laying the cable underwater can be reduced to
per kilometre.
Determine the path for laying the cable in order to minimise the cost in this case. (2
marks)
7. Geometry and Calculus, 2UA 2011 HSC 10b 8. Geometry and Calculus, 2UA 2004 HSC 10b
A farmer is fencing a paddock using metres of fencing. The paddock is to be in the shape
of a sector of a circle with radius and sector angle in radians, as shown in the diagram.

The diagram shows a triangular piece of land with dimensions metres,

metres and metres, where .
The owner of the land wants to build a straight fence to divide the land into two pieces of
(i) Show that the length of fencing required to fence the perimeter of the paddock is equal area. Let and be points on and respectively so that divides the
. (1 mark) land into two pieces of equal area.
(ii) Show that the area of the sector is Let metres, metres and metres.
(i) Show that
. (1 mark)
. (1 mark)
(iii) Find the radius of the sector, in terms of , that will maximise the area of the paddock.
(2 marks)
(ii) Use the cosine rule in triangle to show that
(iv) Find the angle that gives the maximum area of the paddock. (1 mark)

(v) Explain why it is only possible to construct a paddock in the shape of a sector if (2 marks)

(2 marks)
(iii) Show that the value of in the equation in part (ii) is a minimum when

. (4 marks)

(iv) Show that the minimum length of the fence is

metres, where .

(You may assume that the value of given in part (iii) is feasible.) (2 marks)
9. Geometry and Calculus, 2UA 2007 HSC 10b 10. Geometry and Calculus, 2UA 2017 HSC 16a
The noise level, , at a distance metres from a single sound source of loudness is given John’s home is at point and his school is at point . A straight river runs nearby.
by the formula
The point on the river closest to is point , which is 5 km from .
The point on the river closest to is point , which is 7 km from .
The distance from to is 9 km.
Two sound sources, of loudness and are placed metres apart.
To get some exercise, John cycles from home directly to point on the river, km from ,
before cycling directly to school at , as shown in the diagram.

B
β
The point lies on the line between the sound sources and is metres from the sound A
source with loudness α
(i) Write down a formula for the sum of the noise levels at in terms of . (1 mark)

(ii) There is a point on the line between the sound sources where the sum of the noise 5 km 7 km
levels is a minimum.
Find an expression for in terms of , and if is chosen to be this point. (4
marks)
C E D
x km River
9 km

The total distance John cycles from home to school is km.

(i) Show that

. (1 mark)

(ii) Show that if

, then . (3 marks)

(iii) Find the value of that makes . (2 marks)

(iv) Explain why this value of gives a minimum for . (1 mark)

11. Plane Geometry, 2UA 2006 HSC 10b 12. Quadratic, 2UA 2005 HSC 10a

A rectangular piece of paper has sides cm and cm. The point The parabola and the line intersect at the points and
is the midpoint of . The points and are to be chosen on and
as shown in the diagram.
respectively, so that when the paper is folded along , the corner that was at lands on
the edge at . Let cm and cm. (i) Explain why and . (1 mark)

Copy or trace the diagram into your writing booklet. (ii) Given that
(i) Show that . (1 mark)
, show that the distance
(ii) Let be the point on for which is perpendicular to .
(2 marks)

By showing that , deduce that . (3 marks) (iii) The point lies on the parabola between and . Show that the area of

(iii) Show that the area, , of is given by the triangle is given by (2 marks)

(iv) The point in part (iii) is chosen so that the area of the triangle is a maximum.
(1 mark)
Find the coordinates of in terms of . (2 marks)
(iv) Use the fact that to find the possible values of . (2 marks)

(v) Find the minimum possible area of . (3 marks)

13. Geometry and Calculus, 2UA 2012 HSC 16b 14. Geometry and Calculus, 2UA 2013 HSC 14b
The diagram shows a point on the unit circle at an angle from the Two straight roads meet at at an angle of . At time car leaves on one
road, and car is 100km from on the other road. Car travels away from at a
positive -axis, where .
speed of km/h, and car travels towards at a speed of km/h.
The tangent to the circle at is perpendicular to , and intersects the -axis at , and
the line intersects the -axis at .

The distance between the cars at time hours is km.

(i) Show that . (2 marks)
(i) Show that the equation of the line is . (2 marks)
(ii) Find the minimum distance between the cars. (3 marks)
(ii) Find the length of in terms of . (1 mark)

(iii) Show that the area, , of the trapezium is given by

(2 marks)

(iv) Find the angle that gives the minimum area of the trapezium. (3 marks)
15. Geometry and Calculus, 2UA 2006 HSC 9c 16. Geometry and Calculus, 2UA 2015 HSC 16c
The diagram shows a cylinder of radius and height inscribed in a cone of radius and
height , where and are constants.

A cone is inscribed in a sphere of radius , centred at . The height of the cone is and the
radius of the base is , as shown in the diagram.
The volume of a cone of radius and height is
(i) Show that the volume, , of the cone is given by

. (2 marks)
The volume of a cylinder of radius and height is

(ii) Find the value of for which the volume of the cone is a maximum. You must give (i) Show that the volume, , of the cylinder can be written as
reasons why your value of gives the maximum volume. (3 marks) (3 marks)

(ii) By considering the inscribed cylinder of maximum volume, show that the volume of any
inscribed cylinder does not exceed of the volume of the cone. (4 marks)

Copyright © 2004-16 The State of New South Wales (Board of Studies, Teaching and Educational Standards NSW)
Worked Solutions 2. Geometry and Calculus, 2UA 2010 HSC 5a

(i)
1. Geometry and Calculus, 2UA 2016 HSC 14c
MARKER'S
i.
COMMENT: Students MUST
know the volume formula for a
cylinder. Those that did and
stated most often
completed this question
efficiently.

♦ Mean mark 44%

(ii) MARKER'S COMMENT: The
ii. "table method" or 1st derivative
test for proving a minimum (i.e.
showing how changes

sign) was also quite

successful.
3. Geometry and Calculus, 2UA 2005 HSC 8a 4. Geometry and Calculus, 2UA 2014 HSC 16c

(i) (i)

(ii)

(ii) ♦ Mean mark 35%

 unavailable for question parts,
mean marks were 35% for Q9
in total.

♦ Mean mark 38%

(iii) COMMENT: A sanity check for (ii)
your answer could be to
compare your answers to the
perimeter restriction of 10m.

(iii)

(iv)

5. Geometry and Calculus, 2UA 2009 HSC 9b

(i) ♦♦ Although specific data is

 IMPORTANT: Tougher
derivative questions often
require students to deal with
multiple algebraic constants.
See Worked Solutions in part
(iv).

MARKER'S
COMMENT: Check the nature
MARKER'S COMMENT: Many
of the critical points in these
students failed to interpret a
type of questions. If using the
correct calculation of
first derivative test, make sure
as providing no solution.
some actual values are
substituted in.
.

6. Geometry and Calculus, 2UA 2008 HSC 10b

(i)

(v)

♦♦♦ Although mean mark

data for question parts is not
available before 2009,
students found this question
extremely challenging.
 (iii)

(ii)

MARKER'S
COMMENT: Students who
could not complete part (i) are
reminded that they can still
proceed to part (ii) and attempt
to differentiate the result given.
Note that and are constants
when differentiating.
7. Geometry and Calculus, 2UA 2011 HSC 10b (iv)
(i)
♦♦♦ Mean mark 20%

(ii) .

(v)

♦♦♦ Mean mark 4%. A

♦ Mean mark 41%. BEAST!
TIP: Area of a sector MARKER'S COMMENT: When
the percentage of asked to 'explain', students
the circle that the sector angle should support their answer
with a mathematical argument.
accounts for, i.e. radians.

(iii)

♦♦ Mean mark 29%

MARKER'S COMMENT: The
second derivative test proved
much more successful and
easily proven in this part. Make
sure you are comfortable
choosing between it and the
1st derivative test depending
on the required calcs.
8. Geometry and Calculus, 2UA 2004 HSC 10b

(i)
(ii)

(iv)

(iii)
9. Geometry and Calculus, 2UA 2007 HSC 10b

(i)

10. Geometry and Calculus, 2UA 2017 HSC 16a

(i) B
β
(ii) A
α

5 7

C E D
x 9-x

(ii)
(iii)

(ii)
(iv)

11. Plane Geometry, 2UA 2006 HSC 10b

(i)
(iii)

(iv)

(v)

.
 (i)

(ii)

(iii)

12. Quadratic, 2UA 2005 HSC 10a

 (i)

(iv) ♦♦ Mean mark 20%

(ii)

13. Geometry and Calculus, 2UA 2012 HSC 16b

 IMPORTANT: Look for any
opportunity to use the identity
as it is an
examiner's favourite and can
often be the key to simplifying
difficult trig equations.
(iii)

IMPORTANT: Is the 1st or 2nd

derivative test easier here?
Students must evaluate and
choose, knowing that
examiners have often made
♦♦ Mean mark 24% one significantly easier than
the other.
.

(iv)

Mean mark 19%

14. Geometry and Calculus, 2UA 2013 HSC 14b
(i)

♦♦ Mean mark 26%

(ii)

♦♦ Mean mark 27%

ALGEBRA TIP: Finding the
derivative of (rather than
making the subject), makes
calculations much easier.
ENSURE you apply the test to
confirm a minimum.

(ii)

15. Geometry and Calculus, 2UA 2006 HSC 9c

(i)
 ♦♦ Mean mark 21%.
(ii)

16. Geometry and Calculus, 2UA 2015 HSC 16c

(i)

♦♦ Mean mark 16%.

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