Example Assessment Mathematics

You have three hours to solve the problems.

You will need a scientific calculator. It is allowed to use a more advanced (e.g. graphical) calculator, but you need
to be able to solve the questions without using the special features of such a calculator (e.g. graphs, solver,).
Final answers are not sufficient. You always have to explain in detail how you arrive at your answers.
Each problem is worth 5 points.
Success!
________________________________________________________________________________
NAME:

Problem 1

3x 5 y 11
a) Solve the following system:
2 x 3 y 20
2 3
b) Solve the following equation: 2.
x 2 3x 4
x 2 ( x y) 1
c) Simplify the following expression: .
x3 y x
d) Factor the following expression: x 3 x 2 9 x 9 .
e) Calculate log 32 up to 4 decimal places using your calculator.

Problem 2
a) When company A sells good A at a price p = 1000 EUR per unit, the demand q is 5000 units. When it
sells at a price p = 500 EUR per unit, the demand q is 6000 units. Find an equation for the demand
function q(p), assuming that it is linear.
We now look at company B, producing good B. When q units of good B are sold, the revenue r for company
q2
B is given by r 200q .
3
b) Graph the function r(q).
The production cost for company B is 70 EUR per unit of good B.
c) Find an equation for the function c(q) that gives the cost c in terms of the number of units q. Graph the
function c(q). Do not draw a new plane, but make your graph on the same plane as your graph in b).
d) Based on your graph, make an estimation of the values of q for which company B makes profit.
e) Calculate the values of q for which company B makes profit.

1
Problem 3
a) A company produces two types of can openers: manual and electric. Each requires in its manufacture the
use of two machines A and B. Each manual can opener requires the use of machine A for 1 hour, machine
B for 2 hours. An electric opener requires 1 hour on A and 1 hour on B. Furthermore, suppose the
number of hours available per month for the use of machines A and B are 160 and 180 respectively. How
many can openers x and how many electric openers y can be produced if all the available time is used?
b) A farmer wants to fence a rectangular piece of land next to a very long straight river. The side of the
rectangle that borders the river does not need fencing. The farmer has 100 m of fence available. What is
the largest piece of land that can be enclosed by this fence? What are the dimensions of the enclosed
land?

Problem 4
We denote the gross domestic product (GDP) of a country at a certain starting time by G0 and its yearly
t
p
growth percentage by p. Then the GDP after t years is given by G G0 1 .
100
The United States had a GDP of 12.49 trillion dollar in 2005. Economists forecast a growth of 3.5% per year.
a) What will be the GDP in 2015 if their forecasts are right?
b) How long will it take the GDP of the United States to double?
c) Which yearly growth rate is needed to make the GDP double in 15 years time?
China had a GDP of 2.23 trillion dollar in 2005. A yearly growth rate of 9.9% is predicted for the future.
d) When can we expect the GDP of China to be equal to that of the United States?
Now we return to the general formula at the beginning of the exercise. Let G10 denote the GDP 10 years
after the starting time. If you know G 0 and G10 for a certain country, it is possible to calculate the
(average) yearly growth rate p. When you want to do this for a lot of countries it is handy to have a formula
giving p in terms of G 0 and G10 .

e) Find such a formula giving p in terms of G 0 and G10 . Give two versions of it: one with a fractional
(= rational) exponent and one with a radical.

2
Answers
Problem 1
a) x 7 and y 2 .
7
b) x 2 or x .
6
1
c) .
y
d) ( x 1)( x 3)( x 3)
e) 1.5051.
Problem 2
a) q 7000 2 p .
b) Parabola with zeros 0 and 600 and top (300, 30 000).
c) c ( q ) 70q . Graph.
d) Estimation from the graph.
e) For all q between 0 and 390.
Problem 3
a) The restriction on machine A leads to the equation x y 160 , whereas the restriction on machine B
leads to 2 x y 180 . The system formed by these two equations can be solved by e.g. the elimination-
by-addition method, which gives x 20 and y 140 .
b) x

river

The length of the fence is x+2y and this equals 100, hence x+2y = 100. The area of the piece of land is
xy. From x+2y = 100, it follows that x = 100 2y. Substituting this in the area xy leads to an area of
(100 2y)y = 2y2 + 100y. The maximum is thus obtained for y = 100/(4) = 25. From x = 100 2y,
x = 50.
Problem 4
a) 12.49 1.03510 17.62 trillion dollar
log 2
b) t? such that 12.49 1.035 t 2 12.49 , gives t log 1.035 20.148... 20.15 years
15
p 1
c) p? such that 12.49 1 2 12.49 , gives p 100 2 15 1 4.729... 4.73%

100

d) t? such that 12.49 1.035 t 2.23 1.099 t , gives t 28.715... 28.72 years
1
G
G10 10
e) p 100

1 p 100 10 10 1
G0 G0