The West African Examinations Council

Senior High School Certificate Examination

MATHEMATICS
May 2012 Exam Solutions

Prepared by Peace Corps, Liberia

 1&2
301 S.H.S.C.E Name:
MAY 2012

SOLUTIONS
MATHEMATICS
Objective and Essay Tests
3hours

THE WEST AFRICAN EXAMINATIONS COUNCIL

Senior High School Certificate Examination

May 2012 MATHEMATICS 1 ½ hours

PAPER 1
OBJECTIVE TEST
Exam questions are listed on the left and solutions are given to the right. Please note these solutions are intended
as a guide and a study tool. They are not designed to teach you how to solve each problem. Independent research
and study will still be necessary if a concept is unfamiliar.

1. Simplify This question requires you to use the rules of exponents and your
knowledge of scientific notation.

Remember that in scientific notation you write very large

numbers and very small numbers as an integer multiplied by a
A. power of 10. This makes the operations easier, espeically without
B. a calculator. The power on the 10 represents the number of places
C. you move the decimal. When it moves to the left the power is
D. negative. When it moves to the right the power is positive.

So you can rewrite this problem to look like:

Change the number in each

bracket to scientific notation

Cancel 3 and 6 because they

appear in both the numerator and
denominator

Only powers of 10 are left

Simplify using the Product Rule

Simplify using the Quotient Rule

Minus a negative is plus a positive

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2. Sonsiama had some money saved.
Starting the first week of June, he saved UNDERSTAND
$6.00 a week for a new bicycle. At the
end of 16 weeks he had a total of What do we want to know?
$141.00 saved. How much did he save  How much did he save before June?
before June?
What do we know?
A. $8.44  He saved $6 each week starting in June
B. $8.81  After 16 weeks he had saved a total of $141.00
C. $45.00
D. $96.00 PLAN
Assign Variables
w = number of weeks he has saved since June
p = amount of previous savings

Write an equation to express the problem

SOLVE AND CHECK

Substitute the information from the reading and solve:

3. The equation has a solution Solve the equation for x:

for all values of a except

A.
B. Carry the across
SHORT CUT! This
C. Factor out on the left
problem can also
D.
be solved by Divide by
substituting each
answer choice into
the equation and The equation will be undefined when the denominator is
checking if it is a zero because you cannot cut something into zero pieces. Set it
solution. equal to zero and solve:

4. In a class of 36 students, 30 students UNDERSTAND

like rice, 12 students like cassava and 1
student likes neither cassava nor rice. What do we want to know?
How many students like both cassava  How many students like both cassava and rice?
and rice?
What do we know?
 36 students are in the class
A. 1
B. 7  30 students like rice
C. 12  12 students like cassava
D. 13  1 student likes neither
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 PLAN
Assign Variables:

Write an equation to describe the problem:

Students who like both are counted in the ‘both’ group and
also in the ‘rice’ and ‘cassava’ groups so they are counted
twice. Subtract b from the number who like rice and the
number who like cassava.

SOLVE AND CHECK

Substitute the information given in the problem and solve
for b = both
SHORT CUT!
Once you get to

substitute the
answer choices
for b to find b=7.

Good mathematicians always check their work. Substitute

into your equation and check that it gives you a true
statement.

5. If , , and You cannot solve when there is more than one variable you
, find the numerical don’t know (more than one unknown). Since you already know
value of x. the value of and in terms of , you can substitute the value
for each into the 3rd equation and solve for :
A. 11
B. 12
C. 13
D. 14
Collect like terms and solve for x:

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6. A car which cost $8,998 when brand This problem asks you to calculate the percent decrease in the value
new depreciates by about 13% in the of the car.
first 6 months. Find its value after 6
months to the nearest $100.

A. $6,900
B. $7,700
C. $7,800 Since you are asked to round the answer to the nearest $100, round
D. $8,800 the cost price of $8,998 up to $9,000 to make your calculations
easier.

7. An athlete runs to the top of a hill and This problem asks you to calculate a weighted average since the
back down. His average speed uphill is athlete doesn’t spend an equal amount of time on each side of the hill.
and his average speed downhill is Let , and . Then
. What is the average speed for the using the formula for speed:
whole journey?

A. 6 km/hr
B. 7 km/hr DOWNHILL
C. 8 km/hr UPHILL
D. 9 km/hr

Then, since you can factor the equation for time spent
downhill and substitute to write:

If you assume the distance is , then the athlete spends going

up and going down. So you can see he spends two times as
much time going up as he does going down. Write the equation:

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 8. Simplify Rewrite each radicand (the part under the radical sign) as the
product of perfect squares. Remember a perfect square is a number
A. you get by squaring another number. For example in
B. the numbers 4, 9, and 16 are perfect squares because
you can get them by squaring another number.
C.
D.

Write each radicand as the

product of perfect squares

Take the radical of each

factor separately

Rewrite 25, 100, and 144 as

a number squared

A square root cancels a

square

Multiply

Factor out
Simplify

9. Nunneh sold an article to Bondo at a Remember that a ratio is just another way to write a
profit of 20%. Bondo sold it to Fania at division problem so:
a loss of 20% of what it cost him. What
is the ratio final price : original price?

A. 25 : 36
B. 24 : 25 Write an equation to express a 20% profit and solve it for
C. 5:7 the original price
D. 4:5

Write an equation to express the final price as a 20% loss on

the selling price from step 2

Please Turn Over

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 Substitute the equations from step 2 and step 3 into the step
1 equation:

10. Which of the following is equal to It is improper to have a radical in the denominator of a fraction.
Multiply by the conjugate of the denominator to fix this. The
? conjugate is formed by changing the sign between the terms
. Then since anything divided by itself is equal to one you
A. must also multiply it by the numerator so the problem is not
changed. Then by simplifying:
B.

C.

D.

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11. Evaluate Rewrite the expression and use the properties of logarithms to
simplify it
A. 16
B. 25
C. 36 Rewrite 36 as a power of 6
D. 49
Apply the Power Property of logarithms

Base 6 and log6 cancel each other

12. Find the coefficient of the term This problem asks us to perform binomial expansion. You can do this
containing in the expression using either Pascal’s Triangle or the Binomial Theorem. Both
. methods are presented, but may require further study for good
understanding.
A. Start by creating a Pascal’s Triangle with rows:
B.
C. 120 1
D. 240 1 1
1 2 1
1 3 3 1
1 4 6 4 1
1 5 10 10 5 1
1 6 15 20 15 6 1
1 7 21 35 35 21 7 1
1 8 28 56 70 56 28 8 1
1 9 36 84 126 126 84 36 9 1
1 10 45 120 210 252 210 120 45 10 1
The entire
expansion is shown
here but on the The last row will give you the coefficients because the second
exam you can stop number is 10 and we are asked to expand a binomial to the 10th
power. So write:
when you reach the
term
because it is the
only one you are
asked about. This
will save valuable
time! The question asks about the coefficient of the term containing so
look only at:

So the coefficient of the term containing is

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 The Binomial Theorem can be used to find a particular term
of a binomial expansion without writing out the entire expression.
The formula for finding the kth term of an expansion is:

When counting the terms you start at zero instead of one so take note
that . In this problem you need the fourth term so

Substituting the information given in the reading:

So the coefficient is 120

13. Find and graph the solution set: Remember, you treat an inequality sign the same way you treat an
equal sign so this is like solving an equation for x.

A.
-5 -4 -3 -2 -1 0 1 2 3 4 5
Distribute the 2 to the brackets
Combine like terms
B.
-5 -4 -3 -2 -1 0 1 2 3 4 5 Carry the 4 across
Divide by 4
C.
-5 -4 -3 -2 -1 0 1 2 3 4 5

D. When graphing an inequality use an open circle to indicate that

-5 -4 -3 -2 -1 0 1 2 3 4 5
the end point is not included in the solution (< or >) and a darkened
circle is used if an end point is included in the solution or ≥

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14. The pie chart below shows how a You can see from the pie chart that 8% of the employees are on
company intends to employ 500 standby. This problem is a complicated way of asking us to find 8%
persons in 2012 as drivers, engineers, of 500.
doctors, teachers, and standbys. How
many persons will be on standby?

Drivers
A. 250 5%
B. 175
C. 40 Doctors
D. 25 Teachers 35%
50%

Standbys
8%
Eng.
2%

15. Calculate the value of x in below.

Straight angles are always 180° and interior angles add to
A. 13.4 180° so you can write:
B. 14.9 P
C. 38 P
D. 39
86° 86°
The angles of a triangle always add to 180°:
3x 4x
3x 4x y w
Q R
Q R Then by substituting and solving:

If you draw a line through P that is parallel to we know 3x

and 4x reflect up and are the measures of their alternate interior
angles. Then since a straight line measures 180° we know:
The 86° must
P
be subtracted
because it is 4x
86°
3x
included in
the 4x and the
3x
3x so it is 4x
counted twice.
Q R

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16. If and a is a positive integer, To solve this problem we need to find the pattern in the powers and
which of the following must be equal to see when the solutions repeat
?

A.
B.
C.
D.

= so it follows that =

17. If , what is the value of x? This problem tests your knowledge of the rules of exponents.

A.
B.
C.
D. 2

Rewrite 4 and 16 as powers of 2

Power Rule

Negative Exponent Rule

Product Rule
The base on both sides is 2 so set the
exponents equal to each other
Carry 2 across

18. If and are Each equation is written in slope-intercept form where

equations of perpendicular lines, then the coefficient gives the slope of the line. You can see the slopes of
the two equations given are and .

A.
B.
C. By definition the slopes of two perpendicular lines are opposite and
D. 2 reciprocal. This means that if a line has slope then the line
perpendicular to this first line will have slope . So in this
problem:

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19. Only 86% of the guests at a wedding First collect your data:
reception were invited. How many
people attended the reception if 147 of
those present were uninvited?

A. 1005
B. 1050
C. 1264 Since a percent is just a ratio of a part to the total, you can use this
D. 6450 information to find the unknown (total attendees).

Write a proportion to relate the quantities. The total number of

guests is the unknown, so you replace it with and solve.

20. Solve for x: Notice that the fractions both have as the denominator so
they can be combined if one is carried across. Then the problem
becomes simple algebra.
A. 4
B. 5
C. 6
D. 8

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21. Bakeri is 2 inches taller than Gayei and UNDERSTAND
Tambo is 3 inches shorter than Bakeri.
What do you know?
If Tambo is 4ft 9inches tall, how tall is
Gayei?  Bakeri is 2 inches taller than Gayei
 Tambo is 3 inches shorter than Bakeri
A. 5ft 1 in.  Tambo is 4ft 9 inches tall
B. 5ft
What do you want to know?
C. 4ft 11in.
D. 4ft 10in.  How tall is Gayei?

PLAN
ASSIGN VARIABLES
b = Bakeri’s height in inches
g = Gayei’s height in inches
t = Tambo’s height in inches
WRITE EQUATIONS
Use your variables to turn each of your ‘What do you
know?’ sentences into an equation
Equation #1
Equation #2
Equation #3
Good mathematicians
always check their SOLVE AND CHECK
work. Substitute the Substitute the value for into the 2nd equation and solve.
values for b,g, and t Then substitute the value for into the 1st equation and solve.
into each equation
and make sure they
give true statements.

22. Which Of the following is not in the The fastest way to solve this problem is to substitute each answer
solution set of ? choice into the inequality and see which one produces a false
statement. Remember an ordered pair is always written (x,y).
A. (0,3)
B. (7,1)
Answer Choice A (0,3) Answer Choice B (7,1)
C.
D.

TRUE TRUE
Answer Choice C Answer Choice D

TRUE FALSE

So is not in the solution set and D is the answer

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23. In the figure below and Since and are parallel lines cut by a transversal, then x and y are
. Which is true of y? supplementary angles such that:

A.
B.
C.
D.
Then write a new inequality for y in terms of :

24. If and are inverse functions and Rewrite . Recall that the inverse of a
, then function means that the inputs ( ) and outputs ( ) are switched.
Then you can write:
A.
function

B. inverse
Now solve the invserse for :
C.

D.

You can check this answer by substituting into and

into . If and are inverses both problems will solve to . If
they result in any other answer they are not inverses.

So the solution checks and the answer is (B).

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25. Three circles of radii 2, 4, and 6 are Draw a diagram that matches the description of the figure given in
tangent to each other externally. Find the reading. Three circles are tangent to each other. That means they
the area of the triangle formed by must touch at one, and exactly one, point on their circumference.
connecting their centers.
Draw three circles that are touching at one and only one point on
A. 4 their circumference. Then connect the centers with 3 line segments.
B. 6 Label the distance of each side of the triangle that is formed. Note:
C. 12 each side of the triangle is formed by the radii of two circles.
D. 24

4
4
6 2
6 2

The sides of this triangle are in a special relationship called a

Pythagorean Triple. The side lengths 6, 8, and 10 are a solution to the
Pythagorean Theorem That means that this is a right
triangle with base 8 and height 6.

Now you can use the formula for the area of a triangle to write:

26. If , then To solve this problem, you will need to use algebra to rearrange the
equation (so that the terms with and are together) and then see if
A. 60 there is a way you can change the first equation into the second,
B. 45 discovering the solution.
C.
D.
Carry the 4y across
Multiply both sides by
Distribute and multiply
Rearrange the terms

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27. When using Cramer’s Rule to solve A thorough knowledge of Cramer’s rule is not necessary to solve this
the system problem so you are encouraged to do self study if you want to know
more. All you need to know is that a system of equations can be
broken apart and arranged as a product of matrices. It looks like
this:

what determinant would be used as

denominator of both and ?

A.

Cramer’s Rule allows us to solve for and individually using

determinants.
B.

The more common

C. square
Where is the determinant of a special matrix and is the
brackets indicate a determinant of a special matrix. We only care about the
matrix and foundation matrix D, however, and that is simple! is equal the
D. coefficent matrix above so:
brackets indicate
the determinant of
a matrix.

28. If , find the value of . Given that it follows that and . To solve, simply
substitute these values for and into the fraction and simplify.
A. 5/12
B. 3/5
C. 5/3
D. 12/5

29. If the average of and 32 is 28, By applying the formula used to calculate an average and using the
then the average of and would be information given the reading, you can write an equation and solve
for .
A. 24
B. 26
C. 28
D. 30

Please Turn Over

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 Since the problem asks for the average of and , next apply the
formula to calculate an average using :

30. Simplify To solve this problem start with the innermost radical and work out
using the rules of exponents and the properties of radicals:
A.
B.
C.
D.

31. An isosceles triangle with base 10 cm Start by drawing a diagram of the triangle described in the reading.
has an area of 60 cm2. Find its Remember, an isosceles triangle has two congruent (identical or
perimeter. equal) sides. The height bisects the base and divides the original
triangle into two right triangles.
A. 23 cm
B. 26 cm
C. 36 cm
D. 41 cm

Please Turn
Over 5 5

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 Then use the given area to find the height:

Then use the height and the Pythaorean Theorem to calculate the
length of the remaining sides:

So the two identical sides measure 13cm. Finaally calculate the

perimeter by adding the lengths of the three sides:

32. If the graph of To solve this problem substitute and into the equation
passes through the point , then and solve for . Remember, points are always written in the form
equals? .

A.
B.
C.
D. 15

33. Solve the following: Remember, fractions can only be added to each other if they have the
same denominator. Notice: you can rewrite the second denominator
by rearranging the variables and then factoring out .

A.

B.

C. 1

D.

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34. Find the sum of 14 terms of FIND THE PATTERN

Look at each term of the sequence and examine its

A. 57 relationship to the terms directly before and after it. In this
B. 77 problem you notice that 5 is added to each term to obtain
C. 343 the next term in the sequence:
D. 378

FIND THE TERMS

The first four terms are given so you need to generate ten
more:

ADD THE TERMS

The word ‘sum’ tells you to do addition. So take all 14

terms and add them up:

35. If is the midpoint of and Midpoint problems are very simple to solve if you know the
, are given, formula—so memorize it!
then B is?

A.
B.
C. where and are endpoints of a line segment.
D.
You are given the midpoint and endpoint and are asked to find
the other endpoint . So write:

To make things easier, you can break this into two smaller algebra
problems:

This means the coordinates of

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36. John left a certain amount of money to You are given that
be shared among his children: Esther,
Mary, and Ruth in the ratio of [Link]. If : : : : : :
Mary received $210.00, how much did
Esther receive? Since Mary gets $210 it follows that:

A. $280.00
B. $140.00
C. $70.00
D. $46.67

Then Esther receives

37. Find the values of in This problem asks you to use knowledge of Number Bases to solve
when the base is unknown.
A.
B. CREATE A TABLE
C.
D. Focus first on the left side of the equation. Convert to a
base 10 number by creating a table. There should always be
two rows and then one column for each digit in the number.
For example, in this problem we need three columns.

In the top row write powers of the base with the exponents
decreasing from left to right, always ending in zero. In the
bottom row write one digit in each column. This essentially
matches each digit with its place value in the base.

1 1 2

MULTIPLY AND COMBINE

Multiply the contents of each column and add the results

SOLVE

Set this equation equal to the right side of the original

equation and solve for

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38. Given that Recall that when you see {braces} you know you are working with
sets, or groups. In order to solve this problem, you need to know two
definitions from set theory.

First, the set U is always defined as the Universal Set. The Universal
Set is the largest set and contains everything that could be an
A. element of a set within the context of the problem. In this problem:
B.
C.
D.
The numbers that are members of the universal set are the only
numbers you will consider when solving this problem.

The second thing you need to know is that when a set A is written
with an apostrophe it means the complement of A. The
complement of a set is everything that is in the universal set but not
in that particular set. So means all numbers in U but not in A.

Then means the intersection of the complement of and the

complement of . It includes all numbers that are in U but are not in
A or B.

If we draw a diagram the problem looks like this:

Universal Set U

A B

1
13 2
3 9
17 4
5 11
19 6
7

So using our definitions and looking at our diagram you can write:

asks us to find the elements and share so:

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39. Solve for x in the equation: Use algebra to solve for x:

A.
B.
C. 1.5
D. 2

40. What is the solution set of Recall that when you see this refers to absolute
? value, or the distance from zero of any number on the number line
(and distance is always positive). By definition, absolute value
A. problems need to be solved twice and often result in two correct
B. answers.
C.
D.

Simplify the equation so the absolute value is isolated on one

side.

Replace the straight brackets with parenthesis and solve the

equation twice. First, taking the absolute value to be a
positive expression, then taking it to be a negative
expression. Solve for in both equations.

So given it follows that

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41. Find the value of x in the below You can see that x will be a 2x2 matrix from the answer choices so
equation: write:

A.

Then you match the elements of the matrices to write and solve four
B. different equations:

C.

D.

*Note that by process of elimination you can already see the answer
will be B For the sake of good understanding we’ll continue with the
last equation, but on the exam you can stop to save time.

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42. The two geometric means between 4 Take time not to confuse geometric mean with the more common
and 108 are? arithmetic mean. What this problem asks you to do is find two
numbers between 4 and 108 such that the ratio of consecutive
A. and numbers is the same.
B. and 12
C. and 36 You have a sequence of four numbers where ,
D. and 36 and and are the two geometric means in between.

If you cross multiply the equations you arrive at the simultaneous

equations:

Short Cut! Geometric

means only deal with This can be solved using substitution. Solve the first equation for
positive numbers. If then substitute the result into the second equation:
you remember this
you can immediately
eliminate all answer
choices but D.

Please
Turn
Over
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 Then substitute back into the first equation and solve for the
value of :

Return to the original equation and substitute the values of

to check:

So the two geometric means between 4 and 108 are 12 and 36.

43. A circular based pyramid has a height

of 10cm and a diameter of 5cm. What Draw a diagram of the figure described in the reading.
could be the volume of this pyramid?

:
. Use π 10

2.5
A. 785cm3
B. 654cm3
C. 261.7cm3
D. 65.4cm3

Substitute the values given to find the area of the base

then the volume.

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44. A line with slope passes through If and are points on a line then the slope of the line is
given by the equation:
points and . What is the
value of x?

A. 11
B. 3
Let and . Then you can substitute
C.
and solve:
D.

45. If the circumference of a circle is To solve this problem you need to know two formulas about circles.
25.12cm, find the area of the circle.
(use )

A. 5.02cm2
B. 50.24cm2
C. 200.96cm2 Use the circumference (which is given) to find the radius:
D. 502.4cm2

Use the radius to calculate the area:

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46. Six boys and 3 girls are eligible for a 5 When a problem asks you to choose objects and the order they are
member team. In how many ways can selected in does not matter, like when choosing members for a team,
the team be formed with exactly 3 you use combinations::
boys?

A. 720
B. 100
C. 60 where n is the total number of things chosen r at a time. This is read
D. 23 “n choose r ” Remember that the ! indicates that you take the
factorial.

Calculate the total possible combinations that can be

created by choosing 3 of the 6 boys:

Calculate the total possible combinations that can be

created by choosing 2 of the 3 girls:

Multiply the total possible combinations of girls and the

total possible combinations of boys:

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47. A bag of 30 fruits contains oranges, This problem gives you more information that you need. We can
mangoes, and grapes. The probability ignore the probability of choosing an orange and use instead that
of picking an orange is . If there are 5 there are 5 mangoes in the bag.
mangoes, find the probability that a
fruit picked at random is an orange or a
grape.

A. 1/3
B. 5/6
C. 1/2
D. 1/6

48. The terminal side of an angle contains Draw a diagram of the problem, situating it on a coordinate
the point . The cosine of this plane and recalling that points are written in the form .
angle is?

A.

B.
C. θ

D.

Now, draw a line from the point straight down to the x-axis
If you don’t recognize (parallel to the y-axis) and a second line from the point to the
origin. Label the length of each side of the triangle that is
the special right
formed.
triangle you can easily
solve for the length of The length of the two known sides suggests a 30 60 90 special right
the hypotenuse using triangle with its sides related by . So it follows that:
the Pythagorean
Theorem:

Substitute the known side-lengths from the problem into

the formula for the cosine of an angle and solve:

cos

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49. Simplify Remember, dividing by a fraction can be rewritten and solved using
multiplication instead of division. Simply multiply by the reciprocal
(inverse) of the fraction.

A.
B.
C. –
D.

50. A student scores 74%, 81%, 62%, 58% In order to calculate the score from the sixth test, simply calculate
and 77% in five subjects. How much the average for all six tests—substituting a variable for the unknown
should the student score in the sixth test score. Then solve and find out the value of the variable
test to make an average of 74%? (representing the score for the sixth test).

A. 96%
B. 92%
C. 89%
D. 82%

So the student must score a 92% on the sixth test to make an average
of 74%.

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 PAPER 2 1 ½ Hours
ESSAY
[60 Marks]

Paper 2 consists of seven questions divided into two sections, A & B. Section A contains four compulsory questions
and section B contains three questions from which you are required to answer any two. Write your answers in ink
(blue or black) only. Credit will be given for clarity of expression and orderly presentation of material.

NOTE: Make sure you understand these directions! The majority of students perform poorly on this section
because they do not answer enough questions. Solutions are provided here with the amount of detail and ‘clarity
of e pression’ you should include on the actual e am

SECTION A
COMPULSORY
[35 Marks]
There are four questions in this section. You are required to answer all the parts of all the questions.

1. (a) Find log given that log . This question requires you to use the properties of
logarithms to rewrite and evaluate log :

log log Factor 40 into

log log Apply Product Property

log log Write 4 as

log log Power Property

Substitute

Simplify

(b) Find the value of if is a solution of Recall that ordered pairs are always written in the form
. To solve this problem all you do is substitute:

Rewrite the equation

Substitute

Cancel the base 2

Only the exponents are left

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2. (a) A man is 20cm taller than his wife. The wife Solve this reading problem using the same three step
is cm taller than half the man’s height method use in objective problem #21:
How tall is the man?

UNDERSTAND
What do you know?
 A man is 20cm taller than his wife
 The wife is 68cm taller than half the
man’s height
What do you want to know?
 How tall is the man?

PLAN
ASSIGN VARIABLES

WRITE EQUATIONS
Use your variables to turn each of your ‘What
do you know?’ sentences into an equation

SOLVE AND CHECK

Substitute the second equation into the first
equation then collect like terms:

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 (b) Given that , find the value of Look at the coefficients of the terms and notice that 9 is
of 12. Then look at the coefficients of the terms and
.
notice that 6 is of 8. Then you can write:

Since you are given , substitute and solve:

3. (a) Find the remainder when This problem requires you to do long division with
is divided by polynomials.

Since does not go into 33 you are finished.

Divide 33 by the divisor to get the answer:

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 (b) Solve the system of equations for and : The solution to this system will be a pair of x and y
values that make both equations true statements.

Solve one equation for one of the variables. It

does not matter which you choose:

Substitute this result into the second equation

then collect like terms and solve for .

Substitute

Distribute the 5

Get a common denominator

Subtract

Multiply the 2 across

Distribute the 2

Subtract the across

Divide all by 3

Good mathematicians
always check their
Substitute that value back into step 1:
work. If you have time
you should substitute
your values for and
into the original
equations to make sure
they are solutions of
both equations.

So the solution to the system is and

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4. (a) Solve for in This problem requires you to apply the rules of
exponents to manipulate and simplify the equation.

Rewrite 49 as a power of 7

Rewrite the cube root as an exponent

Negative Exponent Rule

Product Rule

Subtract

(b) The chord of a circle is 16cm long. If it is Given a problem like this your first step should always be
6cm from the center of the circle, find the to draw a diagram.
radius of this circle.

16

Then you can easily solve using right triangles and the
Pythagorean Theorem:

So the radius of the circle is

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 SECTION B
[24 Marks]
Section B contains three questions. You are required to answer all the parts of any two of the three questions.

5. From the given diagram below, find the These three problems require you to use your
knowledge of angles to write and solve simple
equations.

(a) By definition a straight line is 180° so write:

(a) Measure of .

(b) Measure of .

(c) Value of .

(b) Substituting the value of solved for above:

(c) Again using the definition of a straight line and the

value solved for above:

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6. In the diagram below, is a tangent to circle at Given a problem like this you should always redraw the
and secant passes through . If and diagram into your solution and add the additional
, find the information given in the reading.

A A

C C
O O
B B
P P

(a) By connecting and you can see that a right

(a) Radius of the circle triangle is formed by and . Then by the
Pythagorean Theorem it follows that:
(b) Length of secant

So the radius is .

(b) It is clear from the diagram that

Then since we know that the radius is 8m and is

9m we can use the definition of radius to write:

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7. (a) Find the value of for which This problem uses ratios. Remember that a ratio is just
another way to express division. So you can write:
: :

Rewrite as division

Cross multiply

Expand

Distribute

Combine terms

Combine terms

Combine constants

Factor

Any number times zero is equal to zero so when either

expression is equal to zero the entire equation is equal
to zero.

So or

(b) A triangle has sides of length cm, cm Sketch a diagram that is not to scale to help you
and cm. If its perimeter is cm, find visualize the problem:
the probability that an ant, which continuously
crawls around the perimeter of the triangle at
a steady speed, is on the shortest side at any
given moment.

Please Turn Over

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 Solve for
The perimeter of the triangle is the sum of the
three side lengths so:

Find the probability of being on the shortest

side. The probability the ant is on the shortest
side can be expressed as:

So the probability the ant is on the shortest side at any

given moment is

END OF EXAM

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 It’s Good to Know
Distance Formula Number of Permutations
If and are points on the line: A permutation is a selection of items in which order
matters. The number of permutations of items of a set
arranged items at a time is:

Mid-Point Formula
If and are points on the line:

Number of Combinations
A combination is a selection of items in which order does
not matter. The number of combinations of items of a
Slope of a Line set chosen items at a time is:
If and are points on the line:

Slope-Intercept Form of a Line PROPERTIES OF EXPONENTS

Let and :
Product Rule
Power Rule
Quotient Rule
Point-Slope Form of an Equation
Let and be a point on the line:
Parentheses Rule
Fraction Rule

Quadratic Formula Negative Exponent Rule

Let correspond to coefficients in the general
form of a quadratic equation: .
Zero Exponent Rule
Fraction Exponent Rule

Sum and Difference of Cubes

PROPERTIES OF RADICALS
Product Property

Quotient Property
Simple Interest
Let , ,
, and :
PROPERTIES OF LOGARITHMS
Product Property log log log
Factorial Quotient Property
Let be an integer: log log log

Power Property log log

:

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Perimeter Pythagorean Theorem
The distance around the outside of a rectangle with In a right triangle with sides and :
and :

Circumference
The distance around the outside of a circle with
and :
Special Right Triangles

Area
The area of a figure is the space enclosed inside its sides:

Rectangle

Triangle

Numbers to know
 In a circle.
 Sum of the interior angles of a rectangle
or square.
 Sum of the exterior angles of every
polygon.
 In a straight line.
Trapezoid  Sum of the interior angles of a triangle.
2

Names of Polygons
SIDES NAME
3 Triangle
4 Quadrilateral
5 Pentagon
1 6 Hexagon
7 Heptagon
8 Octagon
9 Nonagon
Circle 10 Decagon
11 Undecagon
12 Dodecagon
n n-gon

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 Acknowledgements

This document could not have been produced without the tireless work and dedication of
the young mathematicians at Sanniquellie Central High. Their drive to learn and study were
the inspiration that took this work out of a few copybooks and into a form that can be easily
reproduced and shared at schools around the country. Special thanks are also due to Peace
Corps Volunteers Douglas Bruey of Sinje, Sarah Ness of Zwedru and Sargeant Donovan-
Smith of Foya/Suakoko. They provided much needed direction and support on formatting
and solutions and many of the ‘short cuts’ and alternate solutions are thanks to their efforts
We humbly submit our work and wish you good luck in your studies and on your exam.

Rebekah Schulz
Peace Corps Volunteer
Sanniquellie Central High 2011-2013

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