AS Mathematics 9709

Exam Preparation Guide

Paper 1 (Pure Mathematics 1):
1.1 Quadratics
Discriminant
Exam scenarios:
1.2 Functions
Ironclad rules to follow for every functions question:
Increasing and decreasing functions questions
What even is a function?
Domain and Range
One-to-one or many-to-one functions
Domain and Range of Inverse Functions
Drawing the inverse function
Composite Functions
Transformations
Exam questions:
1.3 Coordinate geometry
IG Vectors relationship is used:
Normal
Equations of Circles
Finding missing coordinates
Exam questions:
1.4 Circular measure
Exam questions:
1.5 Trigonometry
Finding all the possible angles for an exam question:
Exam scenarios:
1.6 Series
Binomial expansion
1.7 Differentiation
Differentiating
Gradients at a point on a curve
Stationary points
Maximum and minimum points
Exam scenarios:
1.8 Integration
Past exams: *solved tutorials for all the below ready at 7pm Sunday, Sydney time*
2023:
2022:
2021:
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2020:
Paper 5 (Probability & Statistics 1):
Fundamental concepts
Sample space
What is it?
Why we care?
Some common examples
The universal probability equation
Fair
Independent
5.1 Representation of data
Key definitions
Central tendency
Stem and Leaf Diagrams
Box and Whisker Plots
Exam questions:
Variance and Standard deviation
Exam questions:
5.2 Permutations and combinations
5.3 Probability
5.4 Discrete random variables
Geometric Distribution
Always do this
How can you tell it’s a geometric distribution question?
Example 3:
For doing calculations
5.5 The Normal Distribution
Past Exams: *solved tutorials for all the below ready at 7pm Sunday, Sydney time*
2023:
2022:
2021:
2020:
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Paper 1 (Pure Mathematics 1):

UNIVERSALLY APPLICABLE PRINCIPLES:
● There is never a question that you can’t understand.
○ E.g. if you’re doing volume of revolution, even if you didn’t know the formulas
you’d still know what EXACTLY makes up the volume of the shape you’ve
been instructed to find. If you know what at least makes up the volume, you’ll
know where to look to start the question.

1.1 Quadratics
Discriminant
What is the discriminant?
Only used for a quadratic equation:
2
a x +bx +c=0
Discriminant is the number you get when you do b 2−4 ac
Finding the discriminant:
https://youtu.be/4I753Cnk1TE
Why do we care?
We care because the discriminant can be used to find out how many x-
intercepts there are to a quadratic equation:
2
b −4 ac> 0 means there are two solutions
2
b −4 ac< 0 means there are no solutions
2
b −4 ac=0 means there is one solution
● “Solutions” in this context just means x values that will satisfy the equation. If
your equation is equal to zero, then ‘solutions’ is just referring to the numbers
that you can replace ‘x’ with to make the whole thing equal to zero.
● “Roots” is another term you will see come up often for these types of
questions. By definition, ‘roots’ are just the x values that make the answer
equal to zero which is the same thing as the ‘x intercepts’.
Solving inequalities:
Most of the exam questions on this topic will make you solve something like
the examples in the list below. Make sure you know how to do them:
1.1 Quadratic inequalities (IV).pdf
1.1 Quadratic inequalities (IV) solutions.pdf
https://youtu.be/Eyxx2QcENes
Using the discriminant in exam questions:
https://youtu.be/9cGPErXL_bY
Things to look out for:
● Whenever an exam question asks for “values for which the two graphs
intersect”, it means discriminant is GREATER THAN OR EQUAL TO zero,
NOT just greater than zero.
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● Realise that there are INFINITE WAYS they can expect you to use the
discriminant. The best way of knowing when to use discriminant is whenever
you see a scenario where the number of values that can satisfy a
quadratic equation equalling zero, it means discriminant is involved.

Exam scenarios:
1.1 Discriminants | Above the x-axis.pdf
1.1 Discriminants | Above the x-axis (solution).pdf

1.1 Discriminants | Tangent to a curve with two different constants.pdf

1.1 Discriminants | Tangent to a curve with two different constants (solution).pdf
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1.2 Functions

Ironclad rules to follow for every functions question:

● If they mention anything about domain or range, draw that TABLE which shows both
the domain and range of f(x) AND inverse f.
○ E.g. if you know f(x) > 0 and x < -1, then inverse range is < -1 and domain
greater than 0.
○ E.g. if you get a question like this

*for part iii you should by default start the question off by writing this:
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*How did we just get the inverse function domain and range? By applying the
“domain of f is the range of inverse f” rule. In simple terms, x < 2 becomes
inverse f < 2 on the right hand side column of the table we drew. How did we
get the f(x) domain and range? THE QUESTION LITERALLY GIVES YOU
THE DOMAIN. If you have the domain then by default you have the range.

Increasing and decreasing functions questions

● Increasing just means make the differentiation greater than zero
○ Which means you’re guaranteed to end up with something inequality involving
x.
● Decreasing just means makingmake the differentiation less than zero.
○ Which means you’re guaranteed to end up with something inequality involving
x.
● These questions always

What even is a function?

A function is an instruction on what to do about an x value if you have f(x).
E.g. f (x)=x2 +3 x +7
● is just an instruction to take whatever ‘x’ is, square it, add 3 multiplied
by it, then add 7.
● For the example above , f (2)=22 +3(2)+7=17
● Notice how the x in f(x) gets replaced by 2 when you have f(2). So if
you have x 2+ 3 x +7 , you now have 22 +3(2)+7=17 which is an
example of how you used the initial instruction of ‘taking whatever x is,
squaring it, adding 3 multiplied by it, and then adding 7.’
Tutorial:
https://youtu.be/qj6pJlCLNDk
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Domain and Range

If you have a function f(x), then the ‘domain’ describes all the possible values that ‘x’ can be.

If you have a function f(x), then the ‘range’ describes all the possible values that ‘f(x)’ can be.

Absolute basics:
https://youtu.be/pqzfBWe-Zgk

One-to-one or many-to-one functions

● ‘One-to-one’ is just an adjective we use to describe functions that will only produce
one output for every input.
● If you plot the graph of a ‘one-to-one’ function, you’ll see that every x value has only
one corresponding y value.
● ‘Many-to-one’ just refers to functions that have more than one x value for every y
value or more than one y value for every x value.
In practice:
https://youtu.be/wEalL9X1FbM

Domain and Range of Inverse Functions

−1
Domain of f (x )is the range of f (x) ,
What it looks like in practice:

Drawing the inverse function

1) Plot y = f(x)
2) Draw a dashed perfect 45 degree line which y = x
3) Reflect whatever y = f(x) in that dashed line

Composite Functions
Rule for domain of fg(x) and gf(x)
● gf(x) can only be formed when the range of f(x) is within the domain of g(x).
○ If the range of f(x) is satisfied by the domain of g(x), then the domain of the
overall composite function gf(x) is going to be the same domain as f(x).
● fg(x) can only be formed when the range of g(x) is within the domain of f(x).
○ If the range of f(x) is satisfied by the domain of g(x), then the domain of the
overall composite function gf(x) is going to be the same domain as g(x).

1.2 Domain and Range of Composite Functions I.pdf

1.2 Domain and Range of Composite Functions I (solution).pdf

1.2 Domain and range of composite functions II.pdf

1.2 Domain and range of composite functions II (solution).pdf
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1.2 Domain and range of composite functions III.pdf

1.2 Domain and range of composite functions III (solution).pdf

1.2 Domain and range of composite functions IV.pdf

1.2 Domain and range of composite functions IV (solution).pdf

1.2 Domain and range of composite functions V .pdf

1.2 Domain and range of composite functions V (solution).pdf

1.2 Domain and range of composite functions VI.pdf

1.2 Domain and range of composite functions VI (solution).pdf

1.2 Domain and range of composite functions VII .pdf

1.2 Domain and range of composite functions VII (solution).pdf

1.2 Domain and range of composite functions VIII.pdf

1.2 Domain and range of composite functions VIII (solution).pdf

1.2 Domain and range of composite functions IX.pdf

1.2 Domain and range of composite functions IX (solution).pdf

Transformations

Exam questions:
1.2 Functions | Completing the square I.pdf
1.2 Functions | Completing the square I (solution).pdf

1.2 Functions | Completing the square II.pdf

1.2 Functions | Completing the square II (solution).pdf

1.2 Functions | Trigonometry | Expressing a in terms of b.pdf

1.2 Functions | Trigonometry | Expressing a in terms of b (solution).pdf

1.2 Trig functions I.pdf

1.2 Trig functions I (solution).pdf
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1.3 Coordinate geometry

Some rules to remember:
If they give you an equation in a weird format, make it look better without needing to be told
to do so.
E.g. if you see 4y = x +11, then turn it into x+11 / 4 which makes it y = 0.25x + 2.25

IG Vectors relationship is used:

● Every coordinate is really just the same thing as a column vector.
○ E.g. (2,3) is just the same thing as saying go horizontally across to the right
by 2 and then up by 3.
● There are some questions where they expect you to use the relationship between
two points on the same line to find a missing point. This is done using the vector
relationship from IG:
● Perfect example of a question that knowing this relationship would be extremely
helpful for:

Normal
A ‘normal’ is any line that is perpendicular to a tangent line.
If you want to find the equation of a ‘normal’, you use the y-y1=m(x-x1)
-1 divided by any tangent gradient will give you the normal gradient.

Distance between two points

● The square root of the difference in x values squared plus the difference in y values
squared.

Equations of Circles
You only need two things to write the equation of a circle which are the center and the
radius.
In practice:

Finding missing coordinates

Sometimes it’s very helpful to think of coordinates as vectors when attempting to find
mystery points.

E.g. when finding the coordinates of B if you know the coordinates of A and the equation of
AB along with the perpendicular bisector equation of AB:

Exam questions:

1.3 Finding the equation of a circle from three points.pdf

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1.3 Finding the equation of a circle from three points (solution).pdf

1.3 Using the perpendicular bisector to find the equation of a circle.pdf

1.3 Using the perpendicular bisector to find the equation of a circle (solution).pdf

1.3 Coordinate Geometry | using equations from intercepts to solve for unknowns .pdf
1.3 Coordinate Geometry | using equations from intercepts to solve for unknowns
(solution) .pdf

1.3 Coordinate Geometry | Simultaneous equations extended I .pdf

1.3 Coordinate Geometry | Simultaneous equations extended I (solution).pdf

1.3 Coordinate geometry | Perpendicular bisector | solving for two unknowns.pdf

1.3 Coordinate geometry | Perpendicular bisector | solving for two unknowns (solution) .pdf
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1.4 Circular measure

ALWAYS REMEMBER:
● No excuse not to know what the first step of every problem is.
○ Observe my working for each of the ‘Exam questions’ tutorial questions.
○ Notice how the first line of working I write down isn’t even math related?
■ As in you didn’t need to know a single formula to be able to tell that
the shaded region of a shape is the biggest shape minus the smaller
ones.

How to use the formulas given on MF19 for arc length and sector area:
https://youtu.be/5LvG4VaphqY

Exam questions:

1.4 Circular Measure | Compound shapes I.pdf

1.4 Circular Measure | Compound shapes I (solution).pdf

1.4 Circular Measure | Compound Shapes II.pdf

1.4 Circular Measure | Compound Shapes II (solution).pdf

1.4 Circular Measure | Solving for theta.pdf

1.4 Circular Measure | Solving for theta (solution).pdf
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1.5 Trigonometry

Finding all the possible angles for an exam question:

https://youtu.be/wlNt9CUwkpw

Exam scenarios:
1.5 Trigonometry identities I.pdf
1.5 Trigonometry identities I.pdf (tutorial)

1.5 Trigonometry – Using graphs.pdf

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1.6 Series
This is guaranteed to come up in the exam:
If you are asked to find the coefficient from TWO brackets, you have to remember that the
two brackets means this:

*REMEMBER what the second bracket actually contains. It doesn’t mean expandingexpand
the WHOLE second bracket but what it does mean is to realizerealise that the second
bracket has a LOT of terms and that you only care about the multiplications that lead to your
desired coefficient.

Binomial expansion
The most important point:
EVERY unique term in the expansion is given by the PRODUCT of TRIPLE
BRACKETS.
In practice:

Exam questions:
1.6 Arithmetic progression | Solving for unknowns I.pdf
1.6 Arithmetic progression | Solving for unknowns I (solution).pdf

1.6 Binomial Expansion finding the nth term I.pdf

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1.7 Differentiation

What to do if you come across a really confusing rates of change question:

E.g. something like this:

*RealizeRealise that you don’t just panic from not having the WHOLE SOLUTION in mind
already. You just look for the ONE next thing to do that makes sense.
*For part i) You realizerealise that IT DOESN'TDOESNT MATTER IF YOU DON'TDONT
KNOW how they got the thing they want you to show becomes that. You just realizerealise
that if “A” is the internal surface area, then you know for a FACT that it MUST equal
whatever makes up the internal surface area of a closed cylinder since that'sthats what the
question literally says it’s defined as. “A closed cylinder -_-''-”.
*You would realizerealise that what makes up the surface area is two circles on the inside of
the cylinder along with the rectangular shape area on the sides.
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Hence this is where you get this:

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You have to know when to change a negative power expression into the fraction
version
E.g. if you had to find the stationary points for the equation below:

*Look at the first option which is making some messed up negative power thing equal to zero
versus the other option which is way cleaner to solve.

Key point: Know when to convert from negative powers to a fraction version.

E.g. Whenever you’re dealing with those annoying questions that ask whether a function is
increasing, decreasing, or neither:

*We already know that increasing functions are just functions that always have a positive
gradient, decreasing functions are just functions that always have a negative gradient, and
‘neither’ just means they can be both positive or negative. Notice how the headache above is
that we have NO FUCKING CLUE how to tell if it’s always positive or not? THAT'STHATS
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why you change it into a fraction form. Because the fraction form makes it WAY MORE
obvious whether it'sits always going to be positive or not. See below:

How does this help? LOOK AT THE FRACTION version. It makes it way more obvious that if
the x value you replace it with is always going to less than -1 (question literally tells you x<-1
is the domain), then you know that -3 is going to be divided by something ALWAYS positive,
which makes -3/(x+2)^2 always negative. If you do the +2x you’ll find that it’s +2 multiplied
by a number that'sthats always less than -1 which makes +2x ALWAYS negative. If the two
parts that make up the gradient function are always negative then ofc it’s a decreasing
function.

Differentiating

Rules:
● The gradient of ANY tangent at a point is the number you get when you substitute the
x value of that point into the DIFFERENTIATION equation.

How to differentiate for every main scenario you can come across in the exam:
https://youtu.be/POweVxf6xQE

Gradients at a point on a curve

All gradients at a particular point on a curve have the same gradient as the tangent lines at
those points:

Differentiation just gives you an equation you can conveniently use to find the gradient at
any point of x:
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Stationary points
Any point that has a gradient of zero (or tangent that has a gradient of zero) is called a
‘stationary point’: *video*

Maximum and minimum points

What do we mean by maximum and minimum points?
*video*
When the double derivative is positive, it means that it’s a minimum
point:
*video*
When the double derivative is negative, it means that it’s a negative
point:
*video*

Exam scenarios:
1.7 Decreasing functions extended I.pdf
1.7 Decreasing functions extended I (solution).pdf

1.7 Double differentiation and stationary points I.pdf

1.7 Double differentiation and stationary points I.pdf (tutorial)

1.7 Applied rates of change I.pdf

1.7 Differentiation | extended I.pdf

1.8 Integration
RULES:
● Volume of revolution for y axis rotation
○ NEVER forget to make sure the numbers you substitute for the limits are in Y
form, not X.

If you have to integrate ¿, you can either expand to get x 2+ 4 x + 4 and then integrate
individually or you can do the SMART thing which is recognise that SPECIAL CASE rule we
talked about in class.
Special case rule: any single bracket that contains X ONLY to the power of 1, we can
PRETEND that bracket is a regular x. We just do ONE extra step which is DIVIDE the whole
thing by the differentiation inside the bracket.
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E.g. integrate 4 ¿ means we RECOGNISE its a special case where its only one bracket with
the x inside to the power of 1. Which makes the integration look like this:

*the circled part is for you to remember that if you’re unsure how to simplify then you can use
your calculator to do it instead which in this case is just typing 4 divided by ⅓ divided by 3 to
get 4

Exam scenarios:
1.8 Double integration I.pdf
1.8 Double integration I (solution).pdf

1.8 Definite integrals – solving for k (I).pdf

1.8 Integration – Under the graph.pdf

1.8 Volume of Revolution Compound Shapes I.pdf

1.8 Volume of Revolution Compound Shapes II.pdf

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Past exams: *solved tutorials for all the below ready at 7pm
Sunday, Sydney time*

2023:
Question Paper Solutions
Walkthrough

9709_m23_qp_12.pdf 9709_m23_qp_12.pdf
9709_s23_qp_11.pdf 9709_s23_qp_11.pdf
9709_s23_qp_12.pdf 9709_s23_ms_12.pdf
9709_s23_qp_13.pdf 9709_s23_ms_13.pdf

2022:
Question Paper Mark Scheme
9709_m22_qp_12.pdf 9709_m22_ms_12.pdf
9709_s22_qp_11.pdf 9709_s22_ms_11.pdf
9709_s22_qp_12.pdf 9709_s22_ms_12.pdf
9709_s22_qp_13.pdf 9709_s22_ms_13.pdf
9709_w22_qp_11.pdf 9709_w22_ms_11.pdf
9709_w22_qp_12.pdf 9709_w22_ms_12.pdf
9709_w22_qp_13.pdf 9709_w22_ms_13.pdf

2021:
Question Paper Mark Scheme
9709_m21_qp_12.pdf 9709_m21_ms_12.pdf
9709_s21_qp_11.pdf 9709_s21_ms_11.pdf
9709_s21_qp_12.pdf 9709_s21_ms_12.pdf
9709_s21_qp_13.pdf 9709_s21_ms_13.pdf
9709_w21_qp_11.pdf 9709_w21_ms_11.pdf
9709_w21_qp_12.pdf 9709_w21_ms_12.pdf
9709_w21_qp_13.pdf 9709_w21_ms_13.pdf

2020:
Question Paper Mark Scheme
9709_m20_qp_12.pdf 9709_m20_ms_12.pdf
9709_s20_qp_11.pdf 9709_s20_ms_11.pdf
9709_s20_qp_12.pdf 9709_s20_ms_12.pdf
9709_s20_qp_13.pdf 9709_s20_ms_13.pdf
9709_w20_qp_11.pdf 9709_w20_ms_11.pdf
9709_w20_qp_12.pdf 9709_w20_ms_12.pdf
9709_w20_qp_13.pdf 9709_w20_ms_13.pdf
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Paper 5 (Probability & Statistics 1):

Fundamental concepts

Sample space

What is it?
If you’re trying to calculate the probability of something happening, the sample space is
whatever represents all the possible scenarios in which that ‘something’ could happen.

Why do we careWhy we care?

A lot of questions come up in the exam where you need to find the probability of something
but it may not seem obvious how to because it doesn’t seem like the problem is part of a
distribution or probability formula. The probability you’re looking for is often found by
applying the sample space concept.

Some common examples

They really like to test you on how to find the probability of dice related questions that involve
sample space.

REMEMBER TO USE THE TABLE METHOD whenever you see a question that involves
combining scores in some way. A typical would be trying to find how many ways you get a
sum of 10 or more by adding the scores on each face of two fair dice being thrown. Notice
how it’s pretty confusing to try find all the ways in which that can happen divided

E.g. like this one below

*part (i) is an example where you’d realizerealise sample space is used because you literally
just have to find the number of ways in which

The universal probability equation

Might sound obvious but you should know that the formula which works every single time to
find the probability of something happening is ALWAYS going to be the number of scenarios
that satisfy your condition divided by the number of total possible things that can happen.
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It’s useful because if you come across a question where you’re unsure about how to find the
probability it might just come to you if you think literally about how many possible options
satisfy the condition given versus the total possible options.

Number of scenarios where A can happen

P( A)=
Total number of possible scenarios

Fair
Anything where you’d think the probability of something happening should be the same
every time and it indeed turns out to be.
● Examples:
○ Tossing a coin
■ You’d think a coin should be 0.5 for heads or tails each. If the actual
probability of heads or tails for a particular coin is 0.5 then it’s a fair
coin.
■ If you found out that it’s 0.6 for heads and 0.4 for tails then it’s not a
fair coin.
○ Rolling a dice
■ You’d think rolling a 6 would be ⅙ every time you try. If it actually is ⅙
chance every time then it’s a fair dice.

Independent
● Just means that the likelihood of an event happening is not affected by anything else.
● Independent for doing exam questions just means anything that can happen but the
likelihood of it happening NEVER changes. Always stays the same.
○ Might seem similar to being fair but the definition is slightly different. Best way
to think about independence for doing exam questions is to remember that
independence just means the same probability every time.
● Examples of independent events:
○ Rolling a fair dice to get a six. It’s independent because it’s ⅙ probability
every time.
○ Tossing a fair

5.1 Representation of data

Key definitions

Central tendency
● “Central tendency” is the number that you would use to describe the most likely value
for a particular data set.
● You can think of “central tendency” as just the same thing as the average which is
mean, median, or mode.
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○ E.g. If you measure the heights of 150 students, the “central tendency” is just
the number that would best describe the height of any one out of those 150
students.
● You choose the median if there are too many outliers in the data set
● If a question asks you to compare central tendency it means you literally just talk
about the numbers that represent mean median or mode
● Typical exam question that tests your understanding on this:

Spread
● Numbers that you can calculate which give you information about how different all
the values are in a particular data set
○ Interquartile range is an example of spread
○ Range is an example
○ VARIANCE and standard deviation

Cumulative Frequency

*Make sure for a table like this you know how to interpret in simple english what it’s
actually showing. The less than 10 and 0 just means there are NO people who take
less than 10 minutes10minutes. The 25 and the 18 just means less. Thereless there
are 18 people who take less than 25 minutes to travel. The 45 and 50 just means there
are a TOTAL of 50 people who take less than 45 minutes to travel.
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*if asked to draw the histogram:

Histograms
If asked to draw one, immediately just realizerealise you need the variable and the
frequency density table first

Stem and Leaf Diagrams

● NEVER FORGET TO INCLUDE A KEY
● Always remember the (n+1)th/2 term for finding median and quartiles
○ Upper quartile is the MEDIAN of the UPPER half when you circle the median
in general
○ Lower quartile is the median of the LOWER half after you circle the median in
general
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● ORGANIZEORGANISE the numbers from smallest to largest BEFORE drawing up

the diagram
E.g.

● Cross the numbers off from the data set as you fill them in the diagram

Box and Whisker Plots

How to draw:
● Find the lowest value, the lower quartile, the median, upper quartile, and the largest
value.

Exam questions:

Variance and Standard deviation

RealizeRealise that the formula on MF19 only shows ONE out of INFINITE possible
formulas on how to find the standard deviation
● Have to know that if you only have the sumhave sum of (x-2) squared then it means
your E(X) isn't the sumisn’t sum of x divided by n anymore, it’s going to be the sumbe
sum of (x-2) divided by n.

Exam questions:
5.1 Variance & standard deviation | Exam Questions Compilation.pdf
5.1 Variance & standard deviation | Exam Questions Compilation (solutions).pdf

You can tell it’s geometric the moment you read the word “repeatedly”.

● The moment you can TELL its a Geometric → You set up the formula it
belongs to → X~Geo(p)
●
●

5.2 Permutations and combinations

5.2 Permutations & Combinations I.pdf

5.2 Combination Probability I.pdf

5.2 Arrangements Extended I.pdf

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5.2 Arrangements Extended II.pdf

5.3 Probability
Guaranteed to come up:
Independent or not
● To prove if A and B are independent, find the ACTUAL probabilityproabiblity of them
both happening at the same time (remember you can’t just multiply two events
together by default anymore if you want to find them both happening, you can only do
that if you know for a fact it'sits independent) and see if its equal to their individual
probability
● Sometimes a question will talk about two fair dice for example and expect you to
know that the sum of each faceeach of face added together is independent. How do
you know? Because two fair dice means they’re not gonna affect each other. Hence
independent.
Mutually exclusive or not
Conditional probability formula (typically from tree diagrams)
THIS ONE IS GUARANTEED TO SHOW UP (as in you either get tested directly or you need
to use it to solve some bigger problem):
P( A∨B)=P( AnB)/ P(B)
*Vertical line created whenever you see the phrase “Given that **”

Mutually exclusive is just when two things happening at the same time has a probability of
zero which just means it doesn'tmeans doesn’t happen. So if a question asks you to

5.4 Discrete random variables

Probability distributions tables will definitely come up

Have to remember that the formulas for it will be given to you, they’re just not labeledlabelled
as “probability distribution tables” on the formula sheet. It’s listed under this part:

*Remember that E(X) just means add every single possible value for what'swhats being
measured multiplied by itsit’s corresponding probability
*sum of x squared p just means square each value and multiply it by the corresponding
probability

Tips on drawing probability distribution tables:

If you’re stuck, just think about ALL the literal possible options that satisfy the condition being
listed (AKA sample space concept again).
E.g. like this question
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*step 1—> we realizerealise we just need the X and the P(X=x) part which is what
every probability distribution table looks like no matter wtf we’re tryna find. Step
2→ realizerealise for this question that the X is just ALL THE POSSIBLE NUMBERS
THAT X can be which is ALL THE POSSIBLE NUMBERS OF ROSES that Martin can
end up choosing. Step 3→ common sense tells us the smallest number of white
roses is 0, next is 1, most is 2 since we have ONLY 2 white roses. Therefore the x
values in the table would be 0,1,2 and all that'sthats left to do is find the probability of
each of those scenarios.

Geometric Distribution
It’s guaranteed to come up in the exam.

Always do this
1) STATE the distribution is geometric. Do the X squiggly line X Geo(1/6) thing.
a) E.g. if a question talking about rolling a fair die until getting a 4 then
you do
2) Write down the inequality that represents the solution.

How can you tell it’s a geometric distribution question?

There’s no guarantee that the question is going to tell you it’s geometrically distributed.

Best way to tell is by checking if the question is mentioning anything along the lines of “this
many attempts are required for some event to happen,” or “so and so does something until it
happens.” Basically, that is referring to the number of attempts required for something to
happen.

Examples of exam questions that are geometric distribution and how you can tell it was:

Example 1:

*We could tell here because it says FAIR die which implies the probability of that event is the
SAME every time.
*The question is talking about the number of attempts that need to happen. Key word here is
REPEATEDLY.

Example 2:

*You see the word REPEATEDLY and the fact that the probability of each spin landing on a
particular number remains constant.
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Example 3:

*You see the word REPEATEDLY and you see that it’s for two FAIR dice.

For doing calculations

There are two types of calculations for geometric that are the EASIEST to do and you must
be aware of these two types when doing calculations for exam questions
1) P(X = ?) which means use the formula straight up
2) P(X>?) which means (1-p) to the power of whatever the ? is.
*The reason why P(X>10) is the same as (1-P)^10 is because P(X>10) just
means the probability of needing more than 10 attempts for that event to
happen. It’s the same probability as failing ten times in a row. That’s why the
probability for those are the same. We care because that’s an example of the
easiest type of calculation to do. The alternative is to do P(X>10) = 1 -
( P(X=1) + P(X=2)......... +P(X=10) which is WAY too long.

MUST know when to change a calculation into the easy version.

● E.g. P(X<10) = 1-P(X>9)

The mean of a geometric distribution

Example:

*You remember that the MEAN is the SAME as the E(X) which is the expected value. This is
on the formula sheet MF19 page 8. Right next to the Geometric distribution formula. See
below:

*Thatthat circled formula on MF19 just tells you the mean of the geometric distribution.

5.4 Probability Distribution Tables extended I.pdf

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5.5 The Normal Distribution

Binomial to normal approximation
Guaranteed to come up in the exam

[1)] RealizeRealise that it always starts off as binomial so you write the binomial
conditions
[2)] RealizeRealise that to get to normal you must find the normal conditions
1)[3)] Once you have the normal distribution conditions you remember to the continuity
correction
2)[4)] Know what your inequality is, e.g. P(X>?)
3)[5)] Draw the two graphs that calculate the normal distribution probability

5.5 Binomial to normal approximation | unknown mean and variance I.pdf

5.5 Binomial to normal approximation | unknown mean and variance I (solution).pdf

5.5 Binomial to Normal Extended I.pdf

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Past Exams: *solved tutorials for all the below ready at 7pm
Sunday, Sydney time*

2023:
Question Paper Mark Scheme
9709_m23_qp_52.pdf 9709_m23_ms_52.pdf
9709_s22_qp_53.pdf 9709_s23_ms_53.pdf
9709_s23_qp_52.pdf 9709_s23_ms_52.pdf
9709_s23_qp_51.pdf 9709_s23_ms_51.pdf

2022:
Question Paper Mark Scheme
9709_m22_qp_52.pdf 9709_m22_ms_52.pdf
9709_s22_qp_51.pdf 9709_s22_ms_51.pdf
9709_s22_qp_52.pdf 9709_s22_ms_52.pdf
9709_s22_qp_53.pdf 9709_s22_ms_53.pdf
9709_w22_qp_51.pdf 9709_w22_ms_51.pdf
9709_w22_qp_52.pdf 9709_w22_ms_52.pdf
9709_w22_qp_53.pdf 9709_w22_ms_53.pdf

2021:
Question Paper Mark Scheme
9709_m21_qp_52.pdf 9709_m21_ms_52.pdf
9709_s21_qp_51.pdf 9709_s21_ms_51.pdf
9709_s21_qp_52.pdf 9709_s21_ms_52.pdf
9709_s21_qp_53.pdf 9709_s21_ms_53.pdf
9709_w21_qp_51.pdf 9709_w21_ms_51.pdf
9709_w21_qp_52.pdf 9709_w21_ms_52.pdf
9709_w21_qp_53.pdf 9709_w21_ms_53.pdf

2020:
Question Paper Mark Scheme
9709_m20_qp_52.pdf 9709_m20_ms_52.pdf
9709_s20_qp_51.pdf 9709_s20_ms_51.pdf
9709_s20_qp_52.pdf 9709_s20_ms_52.pdf
9709_s20_qp_53.pdf 9709_s20_ms_53.pdf
9709_w20_qp_51.pdf 9709_w20_ms_51.pdf
9709_w20_qp_52.pdf 9709_w20_ms_52.pdf
9709_w20_qp_53.pdf 9709_w20_ms_53.pdf