Professional Documents
Culture Documents
CLASS NOTES
DFP
FSA
UWI
ST AUGUSTINE
2009
Isaac Bekele
Department of Food Production
Faculty of Science and Agriculture
The University of the West Indies
St. Augustine Campus.
1
REVIEW
Numbers
In Mathematics, numbers are classified in to various categories where numbers with similar attributes
have been grouped together and given special names. These are given below:
Natural Numbers
These are numbers used for counting. This collection includes the numbers:
1,2, 3, …
The integers
The integers are composed of the counting numbers, zero and the Negative Integers.
Rational Numbers
x
Numbers which can be represented as quotients, where the x an integer and y, a counting
y
number, are collectively referred to as rational numbers. An important property of the rational
numbers is that their decimal expansions are repetitive. For instance,
1
(i) 0.1111111111 111 ...... =0.1
9
16
(ii) 2.2857142857 14 ..... =2. 285714
7
are rational numbers. The bar over the group indicates that the group repeats indefinitely.
Note: Since each rational number can be expressed as a quotient where the numerator is an
integer and the denominator is a counting number, collectively, the integers are a subset of
the rational numbers.
Isaac Bekele
Department of Food Production
Faculty of Science and Agriculture
The University of the West Indies
St. Augustine Campus.
2
Irrational Numbers
It has long been established that the roots of equations like the one given below
x² - 6 = 0
are not rational numbers. All real numbers which are not rational are categorized as Irrational
Numbers and are characterised by having non-repeating infinite decimal expansion. For instance,
(i) 6 = 2.44948974…
(ii) - 13 = - 3.60555127…
(iii) π = 3.14159265…
These are all examples of irrational numbers. It has also long been established that π is
an irrational number and the other two are easy to prove.
Thus, the real number system is entirely composed of the rational and irrational numbers.
Draw a straight line and mark an arbitrary point on the line by 0. This point is considered to be the origin.
Mark an interval of 1 unit length to the right of 0 and label it by 1, then an interval of a unit length to the right
of 1and label it by 2 and so on. Mark a point 1 unit to the left of 0 and label this point by -1, and a point of 1
unit length to the left of -1 by -2, and so on. This results in the following:
----|--------|-----------|------------|-----------|---------|----------|----------|----------|-→
-3 -2 -1 0 1 2 3
Fig 1: Number Line
Note:
(1) Every point on the number line can be associated with a particular real number.
(2) The numbers have order in that they increase from left to right. So all numbers to the right of 3 are
greater than 3 and all numbers to the left of 3 are smaller than 3.
Isaac Bekele
Department of Food Production
Faculty of Science and Agriculture
The University of the West Indies
St. Augustine Campus.
3
Expressing Relationships between Numbers
In Mathematics, special symbols are used for expressing relationships between numbers or numerical
quantities. The symbols and their meanings are given below:
Symbol Meaning
Illustrations
(a) If x represents a percentage mark in a Mathematics final exam, then x cannot be less than 0 and on the
other hand, x cannot be greater than 100% either. Hence, 0≤x≤ 100.
(i) ------------------|------------|-----------
0 5 10 15
The bold segment includes all numbers smaller than 10 but greater than 5. If x denotes the numbers
between 5 and 10, then the bold segment represents 5<x<10.
(ii) -------------|------------------------------------
0 4 8
If x denotes all the numbers above 4, then the bold segment can be represented by x > 4. Note that x takes
any value higher than 4, but not 4.
(iii) -------------------------------|------------
-6 0 6 12
Isaac Bekele
Department of Food Production
Faculty of Science and Agriculture
The University of the West Indies
St. Augustine Campus.
4
Intervals
At times interest lies in considering all real numbers between two numbers say a and b on the real line.
Such a collection of numbers is referred to as an interval and can be denoted as
(i) (a, b)
if interest lies only in numbers between a and b, excluding the boundary points a and b. This is
referred to as an open interval.
(ii) [a, b]
if the set of interest includes the boundary points a and b then it is referred to as a closed
interval.
If x is a number in (a, b), this can also be expressed as a < x < b. On the other hand if x is a number in [a,
b], then this can be expressed as a ≤ x ≤ b.
Note also that half open intervals like [a, b) {or a≤ x<b)} and (a, b] {or a<x ≤ b} are also allowed.
Absolute Value
x = x if x ≥ 0
- x if x < 0
The absolute value of any number different from zero is a positive number and the absolute of 0 is zero.
Solution
Isaac Bekele
Department of Food Production
Faculty of Science and Agriculture
The University of the West Indies
St. Augustine Campus.
5
Exponents/Power
The result of multiplying a number x by itself n times, is represented in a concise form by xn. Thus
x*x*…*x = xn
In this context, n is a positive integer and denotes the exponent (or power) and x is the base.
1 1
x-n = =
x * x * ... * x x n
xn
Note: = xn-n = x0=1 only when x ≠0
xn
(i) 2 * 2 * 2
1
(iii)
4*4*4
Solution
(i) 2 * 2 * 2 = 23
1 1
(iii) = 3 = 4-3
4*4*4 4
Isaac Bekele
Department of Food Production
Faculty of Science and Agriculture
The University of the West Indies
St. Augustine Campus.
6
Rules
xm
(b) = xm-n for x≠0
x n
Application
Single cell organisms reproduce by fission. If a population of bacteria of initial size of 100 doubles every
hour, determine
(i) an expression for population size after t hours
(ii) the number of hours it would take for the population size to reach 1600.
Solution
(i) Let t denote time expressed in hours, and Nt denote the population size after t hours. An expression for
Nt is sought.
Now
(a) N0 denotes the initial population size (size when t=0). Thus, N0 = 100 (given above).
(b) Since the population size doubles every hour, the following can be easily established.
Time (t) 0 1 2 …
Population size at time 1(100) 2(100) 2(200) …
m
Nt 2 0 (100) 2 1 (100) 2 2 (100) …
100 200 400 …
Since the population size at t = 0 is N0=100. Thus, at t=0, N0 = 2 0 (100), at t = 1, N1=2 1 (100), at t=2,
N2=22(100), … and so on and The population size t hours later would be
Nt = N02t =100(2t)
Isaac Bekele
Department of Food Production
Faculty of Science and Agriculture
The University of the West Indies
St. Augustine Campus.
7
(ii) In this case, it is necessary to determine t, such that
Nt = 1600
Hence t = 4 hours. Since the bases are same, the two expressions would be equal only if their powers are
equal. In other words, t must be equal to 4.)
Roots
For a positive integer n and real numbers x and y, consider the solution of the equation
n
y =x
1/ n
Now, y=x
1/ n
x can also be expressed as n x , which simply represents the nth root of x. The expression n x is
referred to as the radical.
Special cases
When n = 2 2
x is the square root of x
n=3 3
x is the cube root of x
n=4 4
x is the 4th root of x etc.
Isaac Bekele
Department of Food Production
Faculty of Science and Agriculture
The University of the West Indies
St. Augustine Campus.
8
Note that n x
(i) When n is even, n x has negative and positive roots when x > 0. For such cases the positive root
is referred to as the principal root.
(iii) n x has a unique negative root when n is odd and x<0 and a positive root when n is odd and x>0.
Example
(i) 2 16 (ii) 2
-9
(iii) 3 27 (iv) 5
- 32
Solution
(i) 2 16 = 16 1 / 2 = (42) 1/ 2
= 4 2 / 2 = 4, the principal root of 16.
(ii) 2
- 9 = No real roots
1/ 5 5/5
(iv) 5
- 32 = (-32) = (-2) =-2 since ( -2) 5 = -32
Rule
If x 0 and m and n are positive integers then
m/n n m
x = (n x )m = x
n m m
x represents the nth root of x or the result of multiplying n x by itself m times.
Isaac Bekele
Department of Food Production
Faculty of Science and Agriculture
The University of the West Indies
St. Augustine Campus.
9
Scientific Notation
In the world of Science, extremely large numbers and very small numbers are often encountered. Such
numbers can be represented in a compact and simple form using exponents usually expressed as base 10.
For an integer n (n 0), and a constant a where a [1, 10), (a10n) represents one way of expressing a
very large/small number in a compact form. For expressing large numbers, positive integers are used. For
expressing small numbers, negative integers are used. Such a representation is referred to as scientific
notation.
Example
Solution
Factorial Notation
Mathematicians devise clever ways of representing lengthy operations using compact notations. Consider a
problem of multiplying the integers from 1 to say 100. Writing out such operations is lengthy and is even
unnecessary. So Mathematicians devised what they call Factorial (!) notation for such operations. The
product of the first 100 natural numbers in the Factorial Notation is represented by
100! = 1 x 2 x …x100
Note that this notation is simply a compact way expressing the operation and is not the outcome of the
operation. By convention, 0! = 1
Isaac Bekele
Department of Food Production
Faculty of Science and Agriculture
The University of the West Indies
St. Augustine Campus.
10
Example
Solution
(i) 1 x 2 x …x 18 = 18!
Summation Notation ( )
A Compact notation for representing addition of many terms based on the Greek letter, (Capital Sigma)
is used extensively both in Mathematics and Statistics. For instance, the sum of the first n natural numbers
is
1 + 2 + ...+ n
n
k
k 1
Here, k is variable which starts at 1 (the bottom suffix) and increases by 1 and terminates at n (the superscript at top).
In general, if x 1 + x 2 + …+ x m represent real numbers, then their sum,
n
x 1 + x 2 + …+ x m = xi
i 1
Here, n is fixed and denotes the number of terms to be added and i is just a variable (it begins at 1,
increases by 1 and terminates at n) and any letter could be used to represent the number of terms or the
subscript.
Isaac Bekele
Department of Food Production
Faculty of Science and Agriculture
The University of the West Indies
St. Augustine Campus.
11
Rules
n n n
(i) (A i Bi ) = Ai + Bi
i 1 i 1 i 1
n n
(ii) aA i = a Ai
i 1 i 1
n
(iii) A = nA (this represents the addition of n As)
i 1
Examples
n
Evaluate the following when A i = 100
i 1
n
(1) (2 a) = 2n + an
i 1
n n
(ii) 2A i = 2 A i = 2(100) = 200
i 1 i 1
n n
(iii) (A i 5) = A i + 5n = 100 + 5n = 5(20 + n)
i 1 i1
n
(iv) A i - 4 = 100 – 4= 96
i 1
n n
(v) (A i 10) = A0 + A i + 10(n + 1) = A0+ 110 + 10n = A0 + 10(11 + n)
i 0 i 1
Isaac Bekele
Department of Food Production
Faculty of Science and Agriculture
The University of the West Indies
St. Augustine Campus.
12
The Binomial Coefficient
For x a non-negative integer and n a positive integer, ( nx ) denotes the binomial coefficient which is defined
as
n!
( nx ) =
(n x)! x!
This is also the number of ways of choosing x objects out of a total of n ignoring order.
Note that
(i) x! = 1 * 2 * … *x and
(ii) 0! = 1
Isaac Bekele
Department of Food Production
Faculty of Science and Agriculture
The University of the West Indies
St. Augustine Campus.
13
Logarithms
A real number y is the logarithm of a positive real number x to base b, where b is a real positive number if
and only if
by =x
Usually y is denoted by log b x and is referred to as the logarithm of the number x to base b.
In the language of exponents, y represents the power that the base, b must be raised to, to yield the
number x.
Example
(i) 8 to base 2
(ii) 16 to base 4
(iii) 81 to base 27
Solution
Now by definition
Since 8 = 2 x 2 x 2 = 23
2y = 8 = 23
Now 2y = 23 only if y = 3, (since the bases of the two quantities are the same, equality
would hold only if the exponents are equal)
Thus, y=log 2 8 = 3
Isaac Bekele
Department of Food Production
Faculty of Science and Agriculture
The University of the West Indies
St. Augustine Campus.
14
(ii) Let y = log 4 16
Now by definition
4y= 16
Since 16 = 4 x 4 = 42
4y = 42
(iii) y = log 27 81
Now by definition
27y = 81
Since 27 = 3 x 3 x 3 = 33
And
81 = 3 x 3 x 3 x 3 = 34
(33)y = 34
33y = 3 4
This implies that 3y = 4
i.e. y = 4/3
log 27 81 = 4/3
3y = 1
1
y =
3
1
log 125 5 =
3
Isaac Bekele
Department of Food Production
Faculty of Science and Agriculture
The University of the West Indies
St. Augustine Campus.
15
Rules
x
(b) log b ( ) = log b x - log b y
y
Change of base
If log b x is given for every positive real number x, then the log c x where c is a positive real number can be
derived by:
log b x
log c x =
log b c
Common Logarithms
The logarithms of some real positive numbers to the base 10 are usually compiled in a tabular form for
convenience of users and published in books and as part of a collection of useful Mathematical Tables. The
tables also include logarithms to the base e ( e = 2.718 28…) which are known as natural logarithms.
However, these days, logarithms to the base 10 or e are readily available through hand held calculators.
log10 x
Note that log e x =
log10e
Where log e x represents the logarithm of x to the base e and is also referred to as the natural logarithm of
x. It is also denoted as ln(x). Log 10 x denotes the logarithm of x to the base 10.
Isaac Bekele
Department of Food Production
Faculty of Science and Agriculture
The University of the West Indies
St. Augustine Campus.
16
Worked Example
a) log 2 (12)
b) log 4 (4.5)
log 2 83
c)
log 4 2 4
Solution
log 2 3 log 2 3
(since log 4 3= = )
log 2 4 2
log 2 3 1.58496
Hence log 4 (48) = 2 + =2+ = 2.79248
2 2
a) log 5 (75)
b) log 5 (1.5)
c) log 5 (81)
d) log 5 (40)
Isaac Bekele
Department of Food Production
Faculty of Science and Agriculture
The University of the West Indies
St. Augustine Campus.
17
Solution
3
b) log 5 (1.5) = log 5 ( ) = log 5 3 - log 5 2 = u – v
2
Isaac Bekele
Department of Food Production
Faculty of Science and Agriculture
The University of the West Indies
St. Augustine Campus.
18