MATHEMATICS

Exam board: Pearson Edexcel

Assessment Method: 100% examination. Three externally examined papers

Length of exams: All papers are 2 hours.

Breakdown of units

Content overview - Paper 1: Pure Mathematics 1 Paper 2: Pure Mathematics 2

Topic 1 – Proof

* Consequence & Equivalents- using particular arrows that allow us to show one thing implies another vice
versa.
In Consequence, if a is true then it implies that b is true ( a -> b) vice versa. Sometimes a implies b and b
implies a ( a<->b), sometimes a if only if b (a iff b).

Ex. #1
P is a prime number > 2 ---> p is an odd number

Ex. #2
n2 is odd <---> n is odd

Ex. #3
The object is a cube ---> The object has six faces
X = 29 ---> X > 10
X3 = X <--- X = -1
X3 - X = 0 2
X (X - 1) = 0 X (X-1) (x+1) = 0
Given n is a positive number greater than 1…
N is a prime number <---> N has exactly two factors

* Proof By Exhaustion- the concept is to must try all possible variations in order to prove a statement is
true. Conjecture is a statement that is believed to be correct that needs to be proved.

Ex. #1
Conjective: 97 is a prime number

97 divided by 2 = 48.5 therefore 2 Is not a factor of 97

97 divided by 3 = 32.3 therefore 3 is not a factor of 97
97 divided by 5 = 19.4 therefore 5 is not a factor of 97
97 divided by 7 = 13.85… therefore 7 is not a factor of 97

As there are no factors less than the sr of 97 this implies there are no factors larger than the sr of 97.
therefore, 97 must be a prime number

Note #1: find the square root of the given number to know the limitation of proving it. That is why in
example 1 we did not try to divide 97 by 11 because the square root of 97 is 9.8488578 which is less that
10. because I didn’t divide 97 to the numbers 4, 6, 8,9, 10 is because they are divisible by the numbers
2,3,and 5. which means that if 2,3, and 5 is not a factor of 97 then 4,6,8,9,10 is also not a factor of 97.
3 Proof by exhaustion questions
1. No square number ends in an 8.

If the number ends with a N and square it then the number that we’ll EN
12 = 1
22 = 4
32 = 9
42 = 6 (based on long multiplication I.e 0.4 x 0.4 = 0. 16)
52 = 5 (based on long multiplication I.e 0.5 x 0.5 =0. 25)
62 = 6 (based on long multiplication I.e 0.6 x 0.6 =0. 36)
72 = 9 (based on long multiplication I.e 0.7 x 0.7 = 0. 49)
82 = 4 (based on long multiplication I.e 0.8 x 0.8 = 0. 64)
92 = 1 (based on long multiplication I.e 0.9 x 0.9 = 0. 81)
02 = 0
None of these end with an 8.

2. If n is an integer and n is greater than or equal to 2 but less than or equal to 7, then a = n 2 + 2 is not
divisible by 4.

n n2 + 2 Divisible by 4? Y/N
2 22 + 2 = 6 6 / 4 = 1.5 NO
3 32 + 2 = 11 11 / 4 = 2.75 NO
4 42 + 2 = 18 18 / 4 = 4.5 NO
5 52 + 2 = 27 27 / 4 = 6. 75 NO
6 62 + 2 = 38 38 / 4 = 9.5 NO
7 72 + 2 = 51 51 / 4 = 12.75 NO

3. Every integer that is a perfect cube is either a multiple of 9, is 1 more than a multiple of 9, or is 1 less
than a multiple of 9.

Number is a multiple of 3 or 1 less or 2 less than a multiple of 3.

N = 3k n3 = (3k)3 = 27k3 = 9 (3k3) multiple of 9

N= 3k -1 n3 = (3k -1)3 = (3k - 1) (9k2 - 6k +1)

= 27k3 - 27k2 + 9k - 1
= 9 (3k3 - 3k2 +K) -1 1 Less than a multiple of 9

N= 3k -2 n3 = (3k -2)3 = (3k - 2) (9k2 - 12k + 4)

= 27k3 - 54k2 + 36k - 9 +1
= 9 (3k3 - 6k2 +4k -1) + 1 1 more than a multiple of 9

NOTE #2: sr is square root, n is number, and EN is Equivalent Number.

* Proof by Deduction- going through a logical sequence of arguments.

EX. #1
Conjective: The sum of any two consecutive odd numbers is multiple of 4.

(2n + 1 + 2n + 3) = 4n + 4
= 4 (n+1)
Which is a multiple of 4
2n + 1 is odd
2n is even
EX.#2
For any 4 consecutive integers, the difference between the product of the last two and the product of the
first two of these numbers is equal to their sum.

n ,n + 1, n + 2, n + 3
*(n+2)(n+3) - n(n+1) Sum= n + n + 1 + n +2 + n + 3
= n2 + 5n + 6 - n2 - n = 4n + 6
=4n + 6 = this conjective is true

EX. #3
K3 - k is divisible by 6 for all integers k>1

K3 - k = k (k2 - 1) = k (k - 1) (k +1)
= (k-1) * k * ( k+1)
Product of 3 consecutive integers
* atleast one will be even, therefore k3- k must be divisible by 2
* one must be a multiple of 3 , therefore k3- k must be divisible by 3
So Divisible by 2 and 3 mean k3- k must be divisible by 6

* Dispproof by Counter Example- a single example that where the conjecture fails.

EX. #1
Conjecture : the value of n2 + n + 11 is prime for all integers n>0

N=11 112 + 11 + 11
= 11 * (11 + 1 + 1)
= 11 * 13 -> is not prime

EX. #2
If x2 > x, then x> 1

X2 x
4 2
0.01 0.1
4 -2

EX. #3
If n is prime, then n2 + n + 1 is prime.
n n2 + n + 1
2 22 + 2 + 1 = 7
3 32 + 3 + 1 = 13
5 52 + 5 + 1 = 31
7 72 + 7 + 1 = 57 (is not a prime since 57 is the product of 3 and 19)

EX.#4
The sum of n consecutive integers is divisible by n (where n is a positive integer)

1 + 2 +3 + 4 = 10 is not divisible by 4
* Proof by Contradiction- a type of proof where there is a statement to prove where we assume the
opposite then show by logical deduction that the statement is false.

Topic 2 – Algebra and functions

Topic 3 – Coordinate geometry in the (x, y) plane

Topic 4 – Sequences and series

Topic 5 – Trigonometry

Topic 6 – Exponentials and logarithms

Topic 7 – Differentiation

Topic 8 – Integration

Topic 9 – Numerical methods

Topic 10 – Vectors

Assessment overview
Paper 1 and Paper 2 may contain questions on any topics from the Pure Mathematics content.
Students must answer all questions.
Calculators can be used in the assessment.
Content overview - Paper 3: Statistics and Mechanics
Section A: Statistics
Topic 1 – Statistical sampling
Topic 2 – Data presentation and interpretation
Topic 3 – Probability
Topic 4 – Statistical distributions
Topic 5 – Statistical hypothesis testing Section B: Mechanics
Topic 6 – Quantities and units in mechanics
Topic 7 – Kinematics
Topic 9 – Forces and Newton’s laws
Topic 9 – Moments

Assessment overview

Paper 3 will contain questions on topics from the Statistics content in Section A and Mechanics content in
Section B.

Students must answer all questions.

Calculators can be used in the assessment.
Overlap with other subjects
Having a firm grasp at maths will serve many subjects at A-level or degree
level well: Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Economics, Accounting etc.