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*P35*
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PRE-LEA
AVING CERTIF
C FICATE
E EXAMINATIO
ON, 202
24
TR
RIAILSCRÚDÚ NA HAR
RDTEIS
STIMÉIIREACH
HTA, 20
024
_________________
APPL
LIED MA
ATHEM
MATICS
S — HIG
GHER LEVEL
L
_________________
TIM
ME: 2½ ho
ours
400
4 mark
ks

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1
Instructions

There are ten questions on this paper. Each question carries 50 marks.

Answer any eight questions.

Write your details in the box on the front cover.

Write your answers in blue or black pen. You may use pencil in graphs and diagrams only.

All of your work should be presented in the answer areas, or on the given graphs,
networks or other diagrams. Anything that you write outside of these areas may not be seen by
the examiner.

Write all answers into this booklet. There is space for extra work at the back of the booklet. If you
need to use it, label any extra work clearly with the question number and part.

The superintendent will give you a copy of the Formulae and Tables booklet. You must return it at
the end of the examination. You are not allowed to bring your own copy into the examination.

You may lose marks if your solutions do not include relevant supporting work.

You may lose marks if the appropriate units of measurement are not included, where relevant.

You may lose marks if your answers are not given in their simplest form, where relevant.

Diagrams are generally not drawn to scale.

Unless otherwise indicated, take the value of 𝑔, the acceleration due to gravity, to be 9.8 m s–2.

Unless otherwise indicated, 𝚤⃗ and 𝚥⃗ are unit perpendicular vectors in the horizontal and vertical
directions, respectively, or eastwards and northwards, respectively, as appropriate to the
question.

Write the make and model of your calculator(s) here:

2
Question 1

(a) (i) Use Kruskal’s algorithm to find a minimal spanning tree for the graph shown.
Show your work.

(ii) If the nodes represent towns, and the weights on the edges represent distances
between the towns in kilometres, find the length of the minimum spanning tree.

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(b) (i) Use Prim’s algorithm to find a minimum spanning tree for the graph shown.
Show your work by listing, in order, the edges you added to the tree, starting
with edge AB.

(ii) Calculate the weight of the minimum spanning tree.

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(c) The network shows the activities that need to be undertaken to complete a project from
start to finish. Each activity is represented by an arc. The number in brackets is the
duration of the activity in days.

(i) Complete the early and late event times in the boxes shown at each node.

(ii) Explain what is meant by a critical path.

(iii) List the two critical paths for this network.

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Question 2

(a) A particle P, of mass 5 kg, is placed on a rough plane. The plane is inclined at an angle of
30 to the horizontal and the coefficient of friction between the particle and the plane is .
The particle is attached to one end of an inextensible string. The string passes over a small
smooth pulley at the top of the plane and a particle Q , of mass 8 kg, hangs freely from the
other end of the string. The particles are released from rest.

(i) Show, on separate diagrams, the forces acting on both particles.

(ii) Find, correct to 2 decimal places, the tension in the string and the acceleration of
the blocks.

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(iii) The string broke after one second. Find the total distance travelled by 𝑃 before
coming to rest for the first time.

(iv) Find the magnitude of the force of the string on the pulley before the string breaks.

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Question 3

(a) (i) A computer network is trying to route a signal from node 𝐴 to node 𝑁 as shown in
the diagram below. It passes through 5 stages labelled 𝑘 = 1 to 𝑘 = 5 with nodes
at each stage. The times to travel between each pair of nodes are shown beside the
arrows. Use Bellman’s Principle of Optimality to find the quickest path for the
signal. Relevant supporting work must be shown.

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(ii) If the times are in milliseconds (ms), find the total time for the quickest path.

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(b) A particle, moving at constant speed, traces a horizontal circle on the inside surface of
√
a smooth sphere of radius r. The centre of the circle is a vertical distance of 𝑟 below

the centre of the sphere. Prove that the speed of the particle is .
√

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(c) A jet plane lands with a velocity of 100 m s-1 and decelerates at 5 m s-2 as it comes to rest.

(i) From the instant it touches the runway, what is the time needed to come to a stop?

(ii) Assuming that the landing velocity and deceleration don't change, can this plane land
at a small airport where the runway is 0.8 km long?

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Question 4

(a) A particle passes a fixed point P with initial velocity 𝑢 and constant acceleration 𝑎 =
where 𝑣 = and 𝑠 is the displacement from P at any time 𝑡.
Use calculus to derive an expression for 𝑣 in terms of 𝑢, 𝑎 and 𝑠.

(b) A scientist wants to find the smallest initial velocity 𝑢 for a rocket on the Earth’s surface to
escape from the Earth’s gravitational field. This is known as the escape velocity.

The displacement of the rocket above the Earth’s surface at a time 𝑡 after launch is given
by 𝑥. The acceleration of the rocket is given by

𝐺𝑀
𝑎 =−
𝑅+𝑥

where 𝑀and 𝑅 are the mass and radius of the Earth, 𝐺 is a constant and

𝑑𝑣
𝑎=𝑣
𝑑𝑥

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(i) If = 𝑔 = 9.8 𝑚⁄𝑠 , use the differential equation above to find an expression
for the velocity 𝑣 of the rocket in terms of 𝑥, 𝑅, 𝑢 and 𝑔.

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(ii) If 𝑅 = 6350 km, calculate the escape velocity of the rocket, i.e. find the initial velocity
when → ∞, 𝑣 → 0 .

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Question 5

(a) Two electrical charges, 𝐴 and 𝐵, are a distance 𝑥 metres apart and repel each other with
.
a force . If 𝐴 remains fixed at the origin on the x-axis, find, in terms of 𝑘, the work done
by the force of repulsion in moving 𝐵 from 𝑥 = 2 mm to 𝑥 = 5 mm on the x-axis.

(b) (i) The time of death of a murdered person can be estimated using a differential
equation. A garda discovers a body and wants to estimate the time of death.
The body is located in a room that is kept at a constant temperature of 21 C.
For some time after death, the body will radiate heat into the cooler room, causing
the body’s temperature to decrease, assuming that the victim’s temperature was
37 C at the time of death. A forensic expert will try to estimate this time from the
body’s current temperature.

According to Newton’s Law of Cooling, the body will radiate heat energy into the
room at a rate proportional to the difference in temperature between the body and
the room. If 𝑇(𝑡) is the body temperature at time 𝑡, then, for some constant of
proportionality 𝑘,

𝑑𝑇
= 𝑘(𝑇 − 21)
𝑑𝑡

where 𝑡 is time in minutes after the first body temperature reading and 𝑇 is the
body temperature at time 𝑡.

When the garda arrived at 10.40 pm (𝑡 = 0), the body temperature was 34.7 C .
He took another measurement at 12.10 am and the body temperature was 31.7 C.

Estimate the time of death to the nearest minute.

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(ii) A difference equation could also have been used to model the above problem.
Why would a difference equation have been less accurate?

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Question 6

(a) (i) 𝑝𝚤⃗ + 𝑞𝚥⃗ and 𝑟𝚤⃗ + 𝑠𝚥⃗ are perpendicular vectors, where 𝑝, 𝑞, 𝑟, 𝑠 are scalars.
Use the dot product to find an equation in terms of 𝑝, 𝑞, 𝑟 and 𝑠.

(ii) Two smooth spheres of mass 2M and M impinge obliquely. Before the collision,
they were moving in directions perpendicular to each other, with speeds of 4 m s-1
and 6 m s-1 respectively. Mass M is brought to rest by the collision. Find the speed
of the 2M mass after the collision.

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(iii) Show that the kinetic energy gained by the 2𝑀 mass is half the kinetic energy lost
by mass 𝑀.

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(b) (i) An engineer models the wiring in a microelectronic circuit as shown below.
Each component is modelled as a node and the wiring between each pair of
nodes is modelled as an arc. The time taken for the electronic signal to travel
between components is shown on each arc. The times are given in microseconds
(𝜇𝑠). Use Dijkstra’s algorithm to find the quickest path from node 𝐴 to node 𝐽.
Work must be shown.

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(ii) Calculate the time taken for this quickest path.

(iii) Dijkstra’s algorithm is an example of a greedy algorithm. Explain what is meant by

(iv) Why is Bellman’s Principle of Optimality not suitable for modelling this wiring
problem?

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Question 7

(a) A particle is projected with speed 𝑢 at an angle 𝛼 to the horizontal. (The plane of projection
is vertical and contains the line of greatest slope.) The range of the particle is 𝑅.

(i) Find, using calculus, the value of 𝛼 that gives the maximum value of 𝑅.

(ii) If 𝑅 = , find two possible values of 𝛼.

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 (iii) If the ratio of maximum height to range is 2: 5, find 𝛼.

(b) The kinetic energy of the particle is measured at the instant it is fired and again at the
instant just before it lands. Would you expect the kinetic energy to increase, decrease,
or stay the same? Give a reason for your answer.

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Question 8

(a) (i) A forestry company owns 7000 trees. Each year, the company plans to cut 12% of
its trees and plant 600 new ones. Write a difference equation to model the number
of trees it owns after 𝑛 years. Hence, find the number of trees it owns after 10 years.

(ii) If the forestry company follows this model indefinitely, what will the number of
trees eventually settle at?

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(b) (i) Solve the difference equation

𝑢 + 4𝑢 + 4𝑢 = 0, 𝑛 ≥ 2 if 𝑢 = −2 and 𝑢 = 12

(ii) Hence, find 𝑢

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Question 9

(a) Draw a graph that corresponds to the following adjacency matrix.

A B C D E
A 0 1 1 1 0
B ⎛0 0 1 0 0⎞
C ⎜0 1 0 0 0⎟
D 0 0 0 1 0
E ⎝0 1 0 0 0⎠

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(b) (i) An engineer is trying to model a new activity for
children at a funfair. In the model, it is assumed
that the child is on a seat which is suspended
from a horizontal surface 𝑃𝑄 by two elastic
strings, as shown in the diagram. It is assumed
that the mass of the participant and seat is 90 kg
and the system is in equilibrium.

The strings make an angle of 60 with the surface

Calculate the extension in the strings.

(ii) In the second iteration of the model, the engineer decides that he wants to double
the elastic constant in the strings. What effect will this have on the tension?
(Assume the system is in equilibrium.)

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(c) The engineer also wants to design a rollercoaster
for the funfair. In the first iteration of his model,
he approximates the rollercoaster car as a particle
on the surface of a sphere. The particle of mass 𝑚
is held at a point 𝑃 on the surface of the fixed smooth
sphere. The point 𝐶 is the centre of the sphere and
the radius is 𝑟. The particle is released from rest when
it is at an angle 𝐴 to the upward vertical. Its speed is 𝑣
when it makes an angle 𝐵 with the upward vertical.

(i) Show that 𝑣 = 2𝑔𝑟(cos 𝐴 − cos 𝐵).

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(ii) If cos 𝐴 = and 𝑄 is the point where the particle falls off the sphere, find the angle 𝐵.

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Question 10

(a) 𝑢(𝑥) and 𝑣(𝑥) are both functions of 𝑥.

𝑑(𝑢𝑣) 𝑑𝑣 𝑑𝑢
=𝑢 +𝑣
𝑑𝑥 𝑑𝑥 𝑑𝑥

This is the product rule of differentiation.

Using the product rule, prove that

𝑢 𝑑𝑣 = 𝑢𝑣 − 𝑣 𝑑𝑢

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(b) Hence, evaluate
𝑒 cos 𝑥 𝑑𝑥

Give your answer in terms of the constant of integration, 𝐶.

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Page for extra work
Label any extra work clearly with the question number and part.

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Page for extra work
Label any extra work clearly with the question number and part.

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