MAT1511/101/0/2024

Tutorial letter 101/0/2024

ASSESSMENT 01

PRECALCULUS MATHEMATICS B
MAT1511

Year module

IMPORTANT INFORMATION:

Department ofyour
Please activate Mathematical Sciences
my Unisa and myLife e-mail account and
make sure that you have regular access to the my Unisa module
website MAT1511-24-Y1, as well as your group website.

Note: This is a fully online module. It is therefore, only available on my Unisa.

university
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 QUESTION 1

1.1 P (x) = −x3 + 7x + 6

(a) Use the Factor Theorem, or otherwise, to show that x + 2 is a factor of P (x) . (2)
(b) Solve P (x) = 0 by first factorising P (x) completely. (3)

1.2 P (x) = 2x5 + 3x3 + 4x2 − 8

(a) List all possible rational zeros of P
(x) given by the Rational Zeros Theorem. ($heck
to see which actually are zeros.) (2)
(b) Show that 1 and −2 are the upper bound and lower bound, respectively, for the real zeros of
P (x) .
(3)
[10]

QUESTION 2

2.1 Use Descartes’ Rule of Signs to describe all possibilities for the number of positive, negative and
imaginary zeros of P (x) , where

P (x) = 4x3 − 3x2 − 7x + 9.

(You may summarise your answer in the form of a table.) (5)

2.2 Find a polynomial, P (x) , with integer coefficients, that has 3, 0 and i as zeros. (5)
[10]

QUESTION 3

3.1 Write
(2 + i)2 (3 − i)
2 − 3i
in the form a + bi, where a, b ∈ R. (5)

3.2 Decompose
x3 − x + 2
x3 − 1
into partial fractions. (10)
[15]