Edexcel AEA 2020 June — Question 5

Exam BoardEdexcel
ModuleAEA (Advanced Extension Award)
Year2020
SessionJune
TopicProjectiles

5.(a)The box below shows a student's attempt to prove the following identity for \(a > b > 0\) $$\arctan a - \arctan b \equiv \arctan \frac { a - b } { 1 + a b }$$ Let \(x = \arctan a\) and \(y = \arctan b\) ,so that \(a = \tan x\) and \(b = \tan y\) $$\begin{aligned} \text { So } \tan ( \arctan a - \arctan b ) & \equiv \tan ( x - y )
& \equiv \frac { \tan x - \tan y } { 1 - \tan ^ { 2 } ( x y ) }
& \equiv \frac { a - b } { 1 - ( a b ) ^ { 2 } }
& \equiv \frac { a - a b + a b - b } { ( 1 - a b ) ( 1 + a b ) }
& \equiv \frac { a ( 1 - a b ) - b ( 1 - a b ) } { ( 1 - a b ) ( 1 + a b ) }
& \equiv \frac { a - b } { 1 + a b } \end{aligned}$$ Taking arctan of both sides gives \(\arctan a - \arctan b \equiv \arctan \frac { a - b } { 1 + a b }\) as required. There are three errors in the proof where the working does not follow from the previous line.
(i)Describe these three errors.
(ii)Write out a correct proof of the identity.
(b)[In this question take \(g\) to be \(9.8 \mathrm {~m} \mathrm {~s} ^ { - 2 }\) ] \begin{figure}[h]
\includegraphics[alt={},max width=\textwidth]{4d5b914c-28b2-4485-a42e-627c95fa16e2-22_244_1267_1870_504} \captionsetup{labelformat=empty} \caption{Figure 3}
\end{figure} Balls are projected,one after another,from a point,\(A\) ,one metre above horizontal ground. Each ball travels in a vertical plane towards a 6 metre high vertical wall of negligible thickness,which is a horizontal distance of \(10 \sqrt { 2 }\) metres from \(A\) . The balls are modelled as particles and it is assumed that there is no air resistance.
Each ball is projected with an initial speed of \(28 \mathrm {~m} \mathrm {~s} ^ { - 1 }\) and at a random angle \(\theta\) to the horizontal,where \(0 < \theta < 90 ^ { \circ }\) Given that a ball will pass over the wall precisely when \(\alpha \leqslant \theta \leqslant \beta\)
  1. find, in degrees, the angle \(\beta - \alpha\)
  2. Deduce that the probability that a particular ball will pass over the wall is \(\frac { 2 } { 3 }\)
  3. Hence find the probability that exactly 2 of the first 10 balls projected pass over the wall. You should give your answer in the form \(\frac { P } { Q ^ { k } }\) where \(P , Q\) and \(k\) are integers and \(P\) is not a multiple of \(Q\).
  4. Explain whether taking air resistance into account would increase or decrease the probability in (b)(iii).
  5. find, in degrees, the angle \(\beta - \alpha\)