SUMMARY OF INEQUALITIES AND SYSTEMS OF EQUATIONS

To Solve Inequalities using Analytical Method f ( x) If the inequality is not of the form > 0 (including <, , ) , change the inequality to this g( x)
form by first subtracting any term(s) on the Right Hand Side to make it zero and then combining terms on the Left Hand Side to become only 1 term. Note: In general, do not cross multiply to both sides of the inequalities. Factorize f(x) and g(x). If f(x) or g(x) are not factorisable, equate f(x) or g(x) to zero to find the roots (i.e. to find the critical value(s) if there is any), or complete the square to obtain always positive or always negative terms. Mark the critical values on a number line and use test point method. Note that for test-point method, + and signs will alternate for distinct linear factors.

Things to Note:
When you see AND, we must COMBINE the two solutions obtained. When you see OR, we must ACCEPT all possible solutions. In general, even if we are required to solve inequalities using the analytical method ONLY, we can always use GC to check our answers. If the mark allocation is low, you should be graphical method and GC to solve the inequality.

The Modulus Function:

x < a a < x < a ; f ( x ) g( x ) g( x ) f ( x ) g( x ) x > a x < a or x > a ; f ( x ) g( x ) f ( x ) g( x ) or f(x ) g( x )

x | x |= x if x 0 ; if x < 0

x2 = x

When solving inequalities involving the modulus functions, we are only required to learn the graphical method. To obtain the modulus sign in the GC, press wm>1 to obtain the abs( function.

System of Equations To solve system of Linear Equations, we try to follow the steps below:

Step 1 To understand the word problem and translate it into a system of equations for solving. If there are n arbitrary unknowns, you need to come up with n equations. Step 2 To input equations into a GC and read off the results from the RREF matrix, OR, to use the APPS Plysmlt2 to solve the system of equations.