AQA C4 2013 January — Question 2

Exam BoardAQA
ModuleC4 (Core Mathematics 4)
Year2013
SessionJanuary
TopicGeneralised Binomial Theorem and Partial Fractions

2 It is given that \(\mathrm { f } ( x ) = \frac { 7 x - 1 } { ( 1 + 3 x ) ( 3 - x ) }\).
  1. Express \(\mathrm { f } ( x )\) in the form \(\frac { A } { 3 - x } + \frac { B } { 1 + 3 x }\), where \(A\) and \(B\) are integers.
    (3 marks)
    1. Find the first three terms of the binomial expansion of \(\mathrm { f } ( x )\) in the form \(a + b x + c x ^ { 2 }\), where \(a\), \(b\) and \(c\) are rational numbers.
      (7 marks)
    2. State why the binomial expansion cannot be expected to give a good approximation to \(\mathrm { f } ( x )\) at \(x = 0.4\).
      (1 mark)