APPLIED MATHEMATICS SEMINAR QUESTIONS 2018

MECHANICS
1. ABCD is a square of side 3 m . Forces of magnitude 1 N , 2 N , 3 N , S N and T N
act along the lines AB , BC , CD , DA and AC respectively in each case the
direction of the force being given by the order of the letters. Taking AB as the
horizontal and BC as the vertical, find the values of S and T so that the resultant
force is a couple.
2. A particle moving in a straight line with uniform acceleration a m s 2 passes a point
with a velocity of u m s 1 . 3 s later, another particle moving in the same straight
4
line with constant acceleration a m s 2 , passes the same point with a velocity of
3
1
u m s 1 . The first particle is over taken by the second particle when their
3
velocities are 8 . 1 m s 1 and 9 . 3 m s 1 respectively. Find:
i) the value of u and a . ii) Distance travelled from the point.
3a) A particle initially at a point with position vector 12 i  8 j  5 k m moves with a
constant speed of 9 ms 1 in a direction 2 i  j  2 k . Find its distance from the origin
after 4 seconds.
b) A particle of mass 0 . 5 kg is acted upon by an accelerating force of (12 t 2 i  6t j) N
passes through a point P 2, 3 with speed of 3i  4j m s 1 .
i) Find the velocity and position vector of particle t s after passing through P 2, 3 .
ii) Calculate the: - Average speed of the particle in the time interval t  1 s to t  3 s .
- power developed at t  2 s .
4. Two uniform rods AB and BC of equal length and of masses m and 3 m
respectively are freely jointed together at B . The rods stand in a vertical plane
with the ends A and C on rough horizontal ground. The coefficient of friction 
at the points of contact with the ground is the same and the rods are inclined at 60o
to each other. Given that one of the rods is on the point of slipping, find the
coefficient of friction  and the reaction at B .
5. A cyclist P appears to be moving at a velocity of 10 ms 1 on a bearing of 3300 to a
cyclist T moving with a velocity of 8 ms 1 on a bearing of 0450 . Find the:
© PREPARED BY SEKAYITA GEORGE WILLIAM GHS 2018 0783194820/ 0754230088 1
 APPLIED MATHEMATICS SEMINAR QUESTIONS 2018
(i) true velocity of the cyclist P. (ii) bearing of cyclist P.
6. A bomber moves due east at 100 kmh 1 over a town X at a certain time. Six minutes
later, a pursuit plane sets off from station Y which is 40 km due south of X and
flies north east.
(a) If they both maintain their course, find the velocity with which the plane must
fly in order to overtake the bomber.
(b) If the pursuit plane flies at 150 2 kmh 1 along its course, show that its nearest
distance to the bomber is 10 km .

7a) A car of mass 1000 kg tows a caravan of mass 800 kg along a straight horizontal
road. Given that the force produced by the engine of the car is 3200 N and the
resistances to motion acting on the car and caravan are 650 N and 300 N
respectively. Determine the:

(i) acceleration of the car and the caravann (ii) tension in the tow bar.

1
b) The car and caravan now travel up a hill of inclination sin 1 to the horizontal.
20
Assuming that the resistances stay constant, calculate the acceleration of the car
and caravan.

8. Two masses A and B of 0 . 5 kg and 1 kg respectively are connected by an

inextensible string passing over a smooth pulley X of mass 0 . 5 kg . Pulley X is
connected to a body C of mass 2 kg lying on a smooth plane inclined at an angle
of 45o to the horizontal by a light inextensible string passing over a fixed pulley,
find the:

i) acceleration of masses B and C . ii) tension in the strings.

9a) A uniform beam rests in a horizontal position supported at a distance 0.6 m from
one end and carrying a mass of 10 kg suspended from this point. The reaction at
the support is 330 N. Determine the mass and length of the beam.
 6  12 
b) Forces of magnitude 30 N, 39 N and 17 N act in the directions   ,   and
  8 5
  8
  at the points 5 , 12 ,  10 ,  4  and 6 , 6  respectively. Find the:
 15 

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 APPLIED MATHEMATICS SEMINAR QUESTIONS 2018
i) magnitude and direction of the resultant force.
ii) equation of the line of action of the resultant force and find where it cuts the
coordinate axes.
10a) A particle moves in a straight line with simple harmonic motion. Its velocities
when it is 0.2 m and 1.2 m from the extreme point are 3.2 ms 1 and 1.8 ms 1
respectively. Find the amplitude and acceleration of the particle when it is 0.8 m
from the centre of oscillation.

b) The speed V ms 1 of a particle moving in a straight line is given by

V 2  3  2 x  x 2 where is the distance of the particle from the fixed point O.
i) Show that the particle performs simple harmonic motion.
ii) Determine the (i) centre of oscillation. (ii) amplitude and period of motion.
iii) Determine the expression in terms of t for x and hence show that the time

the particle takes to move from x  0 to x  1m is s.
6
11. A and C are two fixed points 4 m apart with A vertically above C. A body of mass
M kg rests between A and C, held in position by two vertical strings. The upper
string has a modulus 6Mg N and natural length 1 m. The string has modulus
8Mg N and natural length 2 m. The body is displaced 20 cm below its equilibrium
position and released from rest. Prove that the ensuing motion is simple harmonic
1
motion with frequency 10 g .
2
12. A heavy particle is projected from a point A on a horizontal ground so as to pass
through the point P(x, y) and hits the ground again at B. If the equation of its path
is 30 y  10 3x  x2 referred to A as the origin and AB as the x-axis and the upward
vertical at A as the y-axis, x and y measured in metres. Determine;
(i) The angle of projection and velocity of projection
(ii) The greatest height reached
(iii) The magnitude and direction of the velocity of the particle at B.

13a) Find the centre of gravity of the uniform lamina bounded by the curve y 2  9  3x
and the axes in the first quadrant.
b) The diagram below shows a uniform square lamina ABCD of side 8cm having a
circular portion of radius 2cm removed. ( use π = 22/7).

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 APPLIED MATHEMATICS SEMINAR QUESTIONS 2018

Given that the centre of the circular portion is 3cm from sides AB and BC;
i) Find the centre of gravity of the remaining portion from sides DA and DC.
ii) The lamina is now hung from the corner A, find the angle AB makes with the
vertical.

14. A car of mass, Mkg is pulling a trailer of mass  Mkg along a straight horizontal
road. The resistive forces acting on the car and trailer are 300N and 200N
respectively. At the instant when the car has an acceleration 0.3ms-2, the tractive
force is 2000N.
a) Show that M(  + 1) = 5000
b) Given that the tension in the two-bar is 500N at this instant, find the value of
M and  .
PROBABILITY AND STATISTICS

15a) A student may travel to school by car, by a bicycle or on foot. The probability of
1 1 1
using a car is , of riding a bicycle is and going on foot is . When the student
3 2 6
3 2
uses a car, the probability of arriving in time is , by bicycle is and on foot is
4 5
1
. Find the probability of the student:
10

i) Uses a car and arrives late. ii) Arrives in time.

iii) Went on foot given that the student did not arrive in time.
16. The cumulative distribution function F x  is defined by

© PREPARED BY SEKAYITA GEORGE WILLIAM GHS 2018 0783194820/ 0754230088 4

 APPLIED MATHEMATICS SEMINAR QUESTIONS 2018
 2x  2x 2 ; 0  x  0 . 25

 ax ; 0 . 25  x  0 . 5
F x    .
b  2 x  x; 0 . 5  x  0 . 75
2

 1 x  0 . 75

i) Find the values of a and b .

ii) Sketch the p.d.f of f x  and hence find the mean  .
17a) Given events A and B are independent and 3P A  B   5PB   4P A . Find
i) P  A ii) P A '  B '

b) Given events A and B are such that P A  B   0 . 8 , P A B  0 . 2 and  

P A '  B   0 . 4 . Find:

i) P A  B  ii) P B  iii) P  A iv) P A 

 B '

18. The masses of sugar are normally distributed. In a large consignment of packets of
sugar, it is found that 5% of them have mass greater than 510 g and 2 % have mass
greater than 515 g . Estimate the mean and standard deviation of the distribution.
19. A random sample of 81 mangoes is taken from a large consignment of mangoes
81
and their masses in grams, x1 , x2 , x3 , . . . , xn such that x
i 1
i  176 . 70 and

81 2

x
i 1
i  424 . 51.

i) Calculate the unbiased estimate for the variance of the masses of mangoes in
the consignment.
ii) Determine the 98% confidence interval for the mean mass of the mangoes in
the consignment.

20. A biased tetrahedron die has faces numbered 1, 2, 3 and 4. If this die is tossed, the
probability of the face is inversely proportional to the number on the face. If x is
the random variable the number on the face the die lands on, determine:

i) probability distribution for x . ii) Var  x  iii) P  x  2  1

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 APPLIED MATHEMATICS SEMINAR QUESTIONS 2018
21. The weekly demand for petrol in thousands of units in a house is a continuous
random variable x with a probability density function of the form;
 ax 2 (d  x); 0  x 1
f ( x)  
0 elsewehere

a) Given that the average demand per week is 600 units, determine the values of a
and d .
b) Find P0 . 9  x  1 .
22a) Apples imported to Uganda are in batches of 1000. The probability that a batch
contains a spoilt apple is 0.025. What is the probability that a batch has:
(i) exactly 20 spoilt apples,
(ii) at least 27 spoilt apples,
(iii) less than 18 spoilt apples.
b) A random sample of 100 taxis inspected on a road on a particular day gave the
ages, X, summarized below:  X  560 ,  X 2  3,286 . Determine the:

i) unbiased estimate for the variance of all the taxis on the road.
ii) 91.86% confidence limits for the mean age of all the taxis that operate on the road.
23a) Mr Owek is the senior inspector in an electronics manufacturing firm. One of his
roles is to inspect in coming lots of memory sticks produced by two terminals daily
and determine their effectiveness. In a tray containing twelve sticks four were
found to be defective. He randomly selects three sticks for inspection. Form a
probability distribution showing the number of defective sticks. Hence find

(i) The probability that at most two of the three is non-defective

(ii) The expected number of non-defective sticks.

b) A petrol station served three times as many men as women on a certain day. Two
types of fuel are available, leaded (L) and unleaded (U). Customers pay by cheque
or by cash. 40% of the men and 80% of the women buy the leaded type. Of the
men buying L 60% pay by cheque and of the men buying U, 70% pay by cheque.
Of the women buying L half pay by cheque while for those buying U, 30% pay by
cheque. Find the probability that a customer,

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 APPLIED MATHEMATICS SEMINAR QUESTIONS 2018
(i) Buys leaded fuel
(ii) Pays by cheque
(iii) Who pays by cheque for L is a man.

24. A gardener collected 150 worms from her garden and recorded their lengths to the
nearest millimetre. The results are given in the table below.

Length(mm) 95- 110- 125- 140- 155- 170- 185- 200-

109 124 139 154 169 184 199 214
No.of worm 4 10 19 36 43 26 9 3
(a)Calculate (i) the mean length (ii) the standard deviation
(b)Draw a cumulative frequency curve to illustrate this information and use it to
estimate; (i) the median (ii) Percentage of worms with lengths greater than
150mm.

NUMERICAL METHODS
1
25a) Use the trapezium rule with nine ordinates to estimate the value of  xe x dx , correct
0

to 4s.f.
1
b) Find the exact value of  xe  x dx and hence determine the percentage error in (a)
0

above. How can the error be minimized?

26a) Derive the simplest formula based on Newton Raphson’s method to show that for
1  e 3 xr 3xr  1  3 
the equation 3x  In 3 it satisfies xr 1   
3 e 3 xr 
b) Draw a flow chart that;
i) reads the initial approximation x0 ,
ii) accepts estimations to 4 significant figures
iii) prints the root to 4sf .

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 APPLIED MATHEMATICS SEMINAR QUESTIONS 2018
1
c) Perform a dry-run for your flow chart for x0  .
3

27a) The table below shows extracts of tangents of angles

x 45 . 0 45 . 1 45 . 2 45 . 3
tan x 1 . 0000 1 . 0035 1 . 0070 1 . 0105

Using linear interpolation/extrapolation, find

(i) tan 1 1 . 0052 (ii) tan 45 . 32

b) The volume V of a cylindrical object of radius r and height h is V = πr2h, where

r = 28.5 and h = 12.3. Find the relative error in the volume.

28a) Show that Newton Raphson’s formula for approximating the natural logarithm of
3xn  1  Ne 3 xn
the cube root of the number N is xn 1  .
3

b) Taking xo  1 , use your formular in (a) above to find In 3 25 , correct to 3 d.p.

29a) The numbers x  4 . 8 , y  4 . 905 and z  2 are rounded oo with percentage errors
2% , 4% and 0 . 5% respectively. Find the range within which the exact value of
x
lies.
yz

b) Given that the numbers p and q are rounded off with errors ep and eq . Show that
1  ep eq 
the maximum relative error in pq is given by    , hence, find the
2 p q 
interval within which the exact value 1 . 202 . 8 is expected to lie.
30. Two sides of a triangle PQR are p and q are such that PRQ   .
(i) Find the maximum possible error in the area of this triangle.

(ii) Hence find the percentage error made in the area if p = 4.5cm, q = 8.4cm
and α = 30o.
3.679 7.0
b) Find the range within which  lies.
2 5.48

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 APPLIED MATHEMATICS SEMINAR QUESTIONS 2018
31. Given the flow diagram below;

(i) Perform a dry run for N = 6

(ii) State the purpose of the flow chart
(b)The taxation on the income of employees of a certain company is given in by,

Taxable income, I (shs) Taxation rate (%)

0 – 100,000 0
100,001 - 200,000 8
200,001 - 300,000 15
300,001 and above 20
Construct a flow chart that reads the taxable income I, calculates and prints the tax
amount T and the taxable income. Hence perform a dry run for employees earning;
sh.154,000, sh. 250,000 and sh. 558,000 respectively.

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 APPLIED MATHEMATICS SEMINAR QUESTIONS 2018
32. Numbers X and Y were estimated with maximum possible errors of  x and  y
respectively. Show that the maximum possible relative error in the estimation of
x y
xy2 is given by; +2 .
x y

b) Given that a = 1.50, b = 13.3 and c = 9.200, are all rounded off to the given
decimal places. Find the minimum value of;
ab ab 1 1 1
i) ii) iii) + +
c c2 a b c

33a) The table below shows the cost y shillings for fuel consumed by a vehicle in a
distance x kilometres.
Distance (x km) 10 20 30 40
Cost (Shs.y) 14,800 15,600 16,400 17,200
Use linear interpolation or extrapolation to calculate the;
i) cost of fuel consumed for a distance of 45 km.
ii) distance Ssekyanzi traveled if he put fuel of Shs. 16,000.

b) ,
Use the trapezium rule with 7 ordinates to find the values of
correct to 2 decimal places.

THANK YOU GOD BLESS YOU.

© PREPARED BY SEKAYITA GEORGE WILLIAM GHS 2018 0783194820/ 0754230088 10