The Student Room Group

Help on C1

Well, in the 2 mocks I've done (one was modified), I've got a U in each. I've got a couple of little questions...

1) What exactly is d²y/dx²? I've forgotton :frown:
2)A curve has the equation y=x+(3/x), x≠0
The point P on the curve has x-co-ordinate 1. (a)Show that the gradient of the curve at P is -2.(b)Find the equation for the normal to the curve at P, giving your answer in the form y=mx+c. (c)Find the co-ordinates of the point where the normal to the curve at P intersects the curve again.

question 2 has me at a loss :frown:
Norm
Well, in the 2 mocks I've done (one was modified), I've got a U in each. I've got a couple of little questions...

1) What exactly is d²y/dx²? I've forgotton :frown:
2)A curve has the equation y=x+(3/x), x≠0
The point P on the curve has x-co-ordinate 1. (a)Show that the gradient of the curve at P is -2.(b)Find the equation for the normal to the curve at P, giving your answer in the form y=mx+c. (c)Find the co-ordinates of the point where the normal to the curve at P intersects the curve again.

question 2 has me at a loss :frown:


1. d²y/dx² is when you differentiate the equation twice with respect to x, such as if i had the equation y = + 4x², then differentiating once (with respect to x) would give me dy/dx = 3x² + 8x, and differentiating again would give d²y/dx² = 6x + 8.

2. a) remember you can write y=x+(3/x) as y = x + 3x-1 , hence differntiating once would give you the gradient of the curve, ie. dy/dx = 1 - 3x-2, which is the same as dy/dx = 1 - 3/x². remember that the gradient at x=1 is simply substituting x=1 into the dy/dx equation that you got, which gives you dy/dx = 1 - 3 = -2, hence you've shown that the gradient of the curve at point P = -2.

b) the gradient of the normal to the curve at point P is just 1/(dy/dx). i'm sure that you can figure the rest out from here.

hope that this helps. :smile:
^ The gradient of the normal is m=1(dydx)m = -\frac{1}{(\frac{dy}{dx})}
AlphaNumeric
^ The gradient of the normal is m=1(dydx)m = -\frac{1}{(\frac{dy}{dx})}


whoops, i made a typing error! :redface: sorry to the OP.
Reply 4
Thankies :smile:

I spent ages last night revising all the formulas. Learnt everything imaginable about APs and then couldn't answer the question on them :frown: D'oh. At least I'm good at the other 3 subjects I'm doing.
All you need to do to get a good mark in C1 is do all the past papers you can lay your hands on. Do the real ones and the solomon ones and you'll definitely get a good mark.
Reply 6
Godsize
All you need to do to get a good mark in C1 is do all the past papers you can lay your hands on. Do the real ones and the solomon ones and you'll definitely get a good mark.


Well I have the Solomon papers, and can download a fair few off the internet. Let's hope I get a good (better than before) mark. :smile: