Journal Article (Current event on Wall Street Journal) Essay - 1

Journal Article (Current event on Wall Street Journal) - Essay Example Smaller changes in the tax policy are supposedly getting in, and as a result of tax changes, there will be a direct implication on the economy. Sparshott elaborates that there is an expectation that there will be a shrink in the gross domestic product, which has an enormous implication on the economy by an estimate of 0.9 percent (7). The conjecture incorporates the full connotation of the fiscal cliff. More research as seen in the article by Sparshott indicates that there is an economic consequence of going over the fiscal cliff, and a much higher probability of staying off the cliff which many analysts and economist have ignored over time (8). To calm the nerves of the people who rely on the economy of the nation for their well-being, Sparshott explains that there is hope still, and there is a thin line separating the achievement of the fiscal plan and the current conditions (7). Further research by renowned researchers according to Sparshott indicates that economists figure that the economy of the nation is more stable and will survive (7). This is an indication of the fact that the country’s economy will be stable enough for the investors to risk a huge amount of money into the country. This assurance by researchers does not concur with many estimates by renowned analysts. However, the case is totally different in consideration to other analysts who indicate that the economy has an extensive process ahead so as to stabilize. In this case, the chances of survival of the country’s economy are negotiable. To back this argument, it is recommended to assess the entire state of the economy not a section of it. In this case, the assumption that the economy is stable is for the reason that there is a notable improvement in the housing market recovery. This recovery consequently leads to a steady fall in the level of unemployment which further leads t o a solidifying bank leading

Subscription Television Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Subscription Television - Research Paper Example Other technological devices, Apple TV, Amazon Fire, TV and modern tablets are also becoming key direct competitors (Nikolinakos 67). The second level of competitors includes product category competitors which prove to be more specific. These include basic cable, on demand internet television, satellite television, which comprises of either a dish or a direct TV and finally, video on demand such as VUDU (Cohen 78). The third category of the key competitors comprises of generic competitors such as movies, theatres, online gaming, online plays, videos and concerts. The direct competitors offer clients subscriptions to a desirable number of television channels and unlimited content such as movies. This is the case with streaming video subscriptions. Theses streaming subscriptions have proven to be primary competitors to subscription television considering they offer their clients a diverse range of content which is not limited to television shows. This is likely to make them a preference over subscription television. This has been the case in the recent past as streaming video subscriptions have registered a remarkable percentage of sales. Evidently, the likes of Netflix and Hulu have proved to be primary competitors to subscription television because of the package they offer to clients. In the case of specific competitors, the potential of basic cable television and satellite television, which do not pose subscriptions to the users, offer a measurable level of competition (Grimme 64). These are highly accessible through antennae and may prove to be a preferable choice for some users depending on their television needs. With the increasing access to the internet, a remarkable percentage of the population prefers to watch their favourable television channels online as long as they have an internet connection. With the cheap packages of internet connection, these

Laterality Differences in Native Arabic Speakers and English Speakers Article

Laterality Differences in Native Arabic Speakers and English Speakers - Article Example This first for example tests whether an English speaker is able to give right ear preference in hearing Arabic sounds and vice versa. This was then extended to include the other categories. Although the majority of tests showed no significant differences for left or right ear perception i.e. showed no suggestion of lateralized perception, at least one from each of the 4 categories of objectives did show evidence of a significant difference at the 5% level of significance. In the first set of tests in which all participants were exposed to both native and non-native sounds to observe any lateralized perception, it was found that each group of speakers had lateralized perception for their own native language but not for the non-native language. That is, the lateralized perception was evident amongst Arabic speakers during the Arabic language test, and amongst English speakers during the English language test, but not during the language test that was in a foreign language for each group. The significant finding was that in these cases, the average scores for right-ear perception was greater than the average scores for left-ear perception. Furthermore, in a comparison bet ween the two tests, the average score on the Arabic language test was significantly greater than the average score on the English language test for right-ear perception in the case of Arabic language speakers, and left-ear perception in the case of English language speakers. Whereas the above was as expected, when the three factors of handedness, gender, and native language were studied, the results were more interesting, and lateralization was evident in one of the 4 instances for each factor. In the English language test, gender was the only significant factor whereas, in the Arabic language test, the other two factors rather than gender were significant.

Literature ans society Essay Example for Free

Literature ans society Essay The literature of an age, and its social set up keeping and reacting one over the other. Literature influences the society; society is reflected in Literature and in this way, in all languages and at all times there has been a close interaction between the two. Literature of any age cannot escape the influence of the social scene and therefore is found reflecting the society of the age when it is created. The poet, the dramatist, the novelist, the essayist are all the product of their age and their-age openly and clearly gets imaged in their compositions. That cannot be helped, it so seems. Take  the example of two literatures — English and Hindi. Chaucer is called the father of English poetry and actually English literature in its form and language which kept on developing and improving, begins from him. His most representative work is the Prologue to the Canterbury Tales and then the Canterbury Tales. All the characters painted in these tales are the true representation of the types of such people as they were in his times. While Chaucer is a reflector of those characters and their types of his age — he is virtually and truly described as the chronicler of his age — his characters whether a  Knight; the Prioress; the monk, the fat fryer, the sailor, the squire, the priest — all are truly the representatives of their types in the contemporary society as they actually were. Chaucer is a painter as well as a critic of his society. Shakespeare — the greatest dramatist of English language — one of the greatest of all languages brings in ‘ghosts’, ‘witches’, and ‘courtier’ and ‘fools’ in his plays which were as per the liking of his audience and a part of the English Society of his times. That is what is rightly said about Shakespeare that in addition to the normal three ‘unities’—  Time, Place and Action in drama, he brought about the fourth unity — ‘unity with the people’. That encomium clearly Shakespeare being influenced by the society of his age and in his plays he, though never gave any message or pronounced any philosophy, but that is always there — the triumph of the good over the evil. This was the message that was most needed to his age after all that had happened earlier — Henry VIII —the king having been killed, Mary Tudor — a despotic, arrogant, a cruel ruler and then a benevolent, all embracing middle-path follower queen — Queen Elizabeth. As is the king so are the people — is an old but true saying and Shakespeare reflects that hilarious sometimes, but somber and philosophic at the other in his plays. Hulton was very much the product of his age. A truly puritanical person; a deeply religious man, he gave to his age which was battling with belief and disbelief — the message of God’s triumph over Satan. The Eighteenth century of English literature is a true product of the age. The social scene had degenerated into debauchery and license after the Restoration of Charles II who brought along with him all that he had enjoyed during his exile and adjourns in France and the literature of that period reflects all that was happening in the society. Alexander Pope’s ‘Rape of the Lock’ is a reflection of the so-called lascivious high society of and pungent satire too, on all that was too much too bad for the society. Thus Pope is a reflector as a corrector of his age. So are Addison and Steele as essayists. Balzac, Zola, Maupassant of France had cast their influence on every Wycherley, conserve and later Restoration dramatists who had gone to the lowest depth in describing social disparity and this is how literature reflected the age. The French Revolution — a very significant political and social event of Europe had as its basic tenets — Equality, Fraternity and Liberty — and these tenets and the revolution did cast its spell all over Europe and England and the English poets could not escape that influence. Wordsworth was moved by the humanitarian aspect of the revolution in the earlier phase but later its bloodiness and violence disillusioned him and all this is reflected in Wordsworth’s poetry — ‘poet of man’ and in his later poetry. Shelley was moved by the revolution’s ‘spirit’ of revolution and Byron by its fighting spirit. Tennyson was a true representative of the Victorian age and sang of the glories of the Empire while his nature poetry gets influenced by the advancement of Science in the later nineteenth century. He did not remain a ‘priest of nature’ as Wordsworth was because where science advances religion declines. Charles Dickens saw the backside of industrialization — the poor getting Poorer and the rich richer — the sufferings of the poor are ignored and his novels reflect all this. The First World War (1914-19) created a group of who sang of the glories of war, of chivalry and  Sacrifice for the nation and then there is the post w poetry and post-war drama — Bernard Shaw dramatist known for his pungent satire, pricking the balloon of romanticism associated with war heroism and love in his ‘Arms and the Man’. Eliot comes on the literary stage to deal with the utter disillusionment of the age in his ‘Wasteland’ all this about English Literature. Similarly in Hindi Literature, when Prithvi Raj Chauhan was fighting valiantly with Mohammad Gori Chandrabardai — the warrior poet was singing of the glories of war and his hero in his ‘Prithvi Raj Raso’. Then came the Bhakti Kal — the period of Bhakti — the country and the nation had fallen under the Muslim yoke and there were class conflicts on the basis of faith and religion. There came on the literary scene, Kabir, who preached anti-fanaticism; pricked the bloated balloon of superstitions and blind faiths and admonished both ‘mullahs’ and ‘Pandits’ and showed the way of God. Tulsidas found the Hindu society divided into factions ‘Shaivas’ and ‘Vaishnavas’ and showed the path of love, brotherhood and mutual respect for all Gods and presented the ideals of a son, a brother, a wife, and a devotee. The triumph of Ram — the incarnation of the Good over Ravan, the symbol of Evil is an eternal lesson given by him to the society — whose lessons remain revered even till today. The period of comparative social peace created a set of poets who indulged in pleasing their patrons — the Kings — as their courtiers and songsters. Their poetry is full of amorous sports in which they make Krishna a Radha and the Gopis their actors — a very wrong a vitiated depiction — unbecoming of those great. This was done just to gratify their patrons — the sensuous and sensual kings. This is how the social scene was reflecting itself in literature. Then, comes the modern age. The British were ruling India and there were classes close to the ruler and classes suffering at the hands of the officials and at the hands of the so-called elite of the society. There were classes created — the superior, the downtrodden — the imperialists and the nationalists. Prem Chand — the great novelist unravels this class fight in his novels and thereby, not only reflects the society of his times but gives a lesson too. His novels, his short stories — all have a lesson to give. There was Bhartendu Harishchandra — the poet the harbinger of the modern age and thought, who successfully caricatured the classes — social and religious — thus reflecting the social scene with a point to reform it. Thus goes on the scene. Maithili Saran Gupta — the Gandhian poet sings of the glory of Ram, of the glory of Lord Buddha, of the glory of other mythological heroes his thrust throughout being to awaken the masses and enlighten them into cordial social contacts. The national fervor reverberated through the veins of the Psyche under the leadership of Mahatma Gandhi and poets  after poets, writers after writers sang of the of our ancient land and its culture. Jai Sanker rasad, Ramdhari Singh Dinkar, the poets; Dharmvir Shrilal Shukla — the novelists brought into focus the inequalities and imbalances that plagued the social scene and through their thoughtful and sometimes highly satirical way brought to the fore the social and political malaise through which our present generation passing. This true presentation has been with a purpose — to awaken the social conscience to the problems that dog the people. Literature thus has been holding the mirror up to Nature on one hand; reflecting all traditions,  trends and tendencies while rising up the finger of caution too to guard against all that goes against the basic values of life. Literature and Society have remained and shall remain ever intertwined and the more they so remain, the more solid would the foundations be laid for a sustained growth; a well-coordinated growth and a corrected social order Literature has to play its part as a reflector and a corrector of society and society has to inspire men of letters to keep themselves on their guard towards their mission of social good.

History Of Air Asia

History Of Air Asia Air Asia was established in 1993 and commenced its operations on 18th November 1996. This airline was originally founded by a government owned conglomerate DRB-Hicom. However, on 2nd December 2001, the heaviliy indebted airline was purchased by former Time Warner executive Tony Fernandess company Tune Air Sdn Bhd for the token sum of one ringgit. Fernandes proceeded to engineer a remarkable turnaround, turning a profit in 2002 and launching new routes from its hub in KLIA at breakneck speed which undercutting former monopoly operator Malaysia Airlines with promotional fares as low as one ringgit. In 2003, AirAsia has opened a second hub at Senai International Airport in Johor Bahru which is near Singapore. And, it launched its first international flight to Bangkok. AirAsia has therefore started a Thai subsidiary, added Singapore to the destination list, and it commenced flights to Indonesia. Also, flight to Macau was started in June 2004 and flight to Mainland China and the Philippines started in April 2005. In addition, the flight to Vietnam and Cambodia is in the year 2005 while to Brunei and Myanmar is in 2006. With a strong yet simple slogan Now Everyone Can Fly, AirAsia has effectively placed its brand in customers mind when comes to selection of flight. In Malaysia, AirAsia is the second powerful national airline. Also, it was the first successful low cost and ticket-less airline in the Southeast Asian region. It is main based in the Low Cost Carrier Terminal (LCCT) at Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA). And, AirAsia has a registered office in Petaling Jaya, Selangor and its head office is on the grounds of KLIA in Sepang, Selangor. In addition, AirAsia is one of the successful businesses that have adopted cost leadership thoroughly through effectiveness and efficiency of the operation management. AirAsia has broken the travel norms around the world speedily and has become the worlds top airline. Beside this, AirAsia also has a route network that spans more than 20 countries; therefore it continues to pave the way for lower cost aviation through innovative solutions, more efficien t processes and a passionate approach to the business. The vision of AirAsia is to be the largest cost airline in Asia and for the purpose of serving the 3 billion people who are currently underserved with poor connectivity as well as high fares. There are 4 missions such as to be the best company to work for where the employees are treated as part of the big family in AirAsia, to create a ASEAN brand which is being recognized globally, to attain the lowest cost to make sure everyone in the world can fly with AirAsia, and to maintain the highest quality product by embracing technology in order to reduce cost and enhance the service levels of AirAsia. Apart from that, together with the associate companies such as AirAsia X, Thai AirAsia and Indonesia AirAsia, AirAsia is set to take the low cost flying. AirAsia X was established in 2007 in order to provide high frequency as well as point to point networks to the long haul business. Its cost efficiencies are derived from maintaining a simple aircraft fleet and a route network based on low cost airports. Hence, guests will continue to enjoy the low fares through cost savings that AirAsia pass on to the guests. Moreover, AirAsia X franchises the brand name of AirAsia, Asias largest low cost carrier which uses a common ticketing website, uniform, uniforms, and management style with AirAsia. AirAsia X is also affiliated with Virgin Group and Air Canada. Reasons for Adopting Information Technology (IT) There are some factors that contributed to the adoption of IT for AirAsia. As we know, airline companies involved in helping people move from one place to another. And, there are billions of people in this world. Without IT, airline companies will not process smoothly and it might lead to serious confusing among the customers and the company. Also, people in this society are having the same problems such as traffic jam, working pressure and time pressure. They are busy with their works and they focus more on efficiency and effectiveness. They do not want to spend extra time on irrelevant things such as queue up to buy something or waiting for long hours. Therefore, most airlines including AirAsia do offer online reservation for the flight as well as hotel rooms in order to save their customers time as well as enhance customer satisfaction. Apart from that, the technology is getting in advanced in this modern era. There are many companies who have adopted Information Technology (IT) in doing their business. And, this IT has helped in enhancing a better management of the operation of the companies. Also, people in this society are concern more on company who has adopted IT and how this IT will help in making their life better as well as decision making in some tasks. AirAsia therefore choose to adopt IT in its business as to follow up the current IT trend as well as fulfilling the demand of the people in this society. They also implemented different systems to enhance their overall operation which will lead to efficiency and effectiveness of AirAsia. IT Strategy AirAsia has some strategies initiatives which involve IT solutions in order to build its company share and reputation. In order to make its operation effective and efficient, AirAsia has implemented few IT systems in its marketing and sales activities. As you know, E-Commerce in nowadays has become a business tool and it is also a vital strategic management that allows a company to sell, advertise, purchase, supplies inventory tracking as well as sharing of information. Therefore, E-Commerce does become a major success to Airline Company that lead to effectively and efficiency in their business. AirAsia is one of the airline companies that implements E-Commerce and maximizes their information technology usage to manage their company effectively and efficiently including make low cost possibly in their business. In order to maximize their IT, AirAsia has implemented current IT systems, for examples, Yield Management System (YMS), Computer Reservation System (CRS), and Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP). These systems have indirectly generated extra revenues and build customer loyalty for AirAsia. Yield Management System (YMS) which also known as Revenue Management System (RMS) is the process of understanding, anticipating as well as influencing consumer behavior to maximize revenues or profits from a fixed perishable resource. Moreover, there is an important component in this system which is the use of overbooking where sometimes there must be a chance that a customer may not appear during that day. As a good example, it might be possible for a customer to book a ticket for a flight but did not turn up for the departure. And, this may cause the airline to end up flying an empty seat which will then cause lost in revenue for the airline company. But, in order to solve this problem, most airlines routinely overbook their flight. And, if there is an unusually large proportion of the customers show up, the company will be forced to bump some customers to another flight. Second, AirAsia using Customer Reservation System (CRS) which is an integrated web based reservation and inventory system. This includes Internet, airport departure control, call center, as well as others. This system is a direct sales engine that rid off the travel agents effectively and the need to pay for the sales commissions to them. And, CRS is totally customer friendly as the customer can buy or reserve a ticket directly via online without come to the ticket counter. This has brought more customers to use the website often thus reduce the extra costs of customer such as transportation costs. CRS also include Open Skies and New Skies. First, the Open Skies system is a built-in web enabled reservation as well as inventory system. The solution is built expressly in order to satisfy the distinctive needs of airlines that either implements a low cost business or in the process of making their business to more efficient streamline operations. Also, this system can be used either individually or combined yet it is depending on the persons needs. Open Skies helps some low cost airlines in worldwide to become a high performance business that continue to grow widely. On the other hand, New Skies is a next generation of reservation and distribution system. And, it is designed for the worlds fastest growing airlines which include newly launched airlines as well as rapidly growing hybrid airlines such as AirAsia. This system is a comprehensive airline passenger sales and management solution that provides capabilities for integrated online booking, call center reservations, inter-airline and alliance code-share itineraries, departure control as well as travel agency global distribution connectivity. Also, New Skies is based on the Navitaires Open Skies reservation and distribution system that have been used by over 40 of the worlds successful airlines. It represents a giant leap forward in quick deployment, speed to market with the new features and enhancements. New Skies has completely integrated departure control and real time reporting to keep your operation runs smoothly. Also, it is easy to use, change as well as customize. Third, AirAsia implements Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system. It is a packaged of business software that integrates organizational processes and functions into a unified system. It helps business management executives with a comprehensive overview of their complete business execution which may influence their business decisions indirectly. There are some examples of functions: Human Resource, Supply Chain Management, Finance and Logistics. These all are stand alone software and has their applications and database. But, with ERP System, all of this individual software can work under one umbrella. And, all the departments can share information easily and it helps to save time and cost. The workflow that has taken place between different departments becomes more automated. The customers also get better services as the person who is using the customer facing applications can access to every bit of information that regarding each relevant process. For an instance, a person who is w ork under sales team can access to the customers product which is still under manufacturing. In addition, ERP system helps to reduce the need to carry large inventories which will increase the operational and labor costs. And, this system is implemented in AirAisia thoroughly. Experience Resulting From The IT Implements Utilization of Information Technology (IT) have directly contributed to the promotional activities, enhance brand equity, and keep the cost as low as possible by enable the customer to direct purchase the ticket online or through sales offices. This has helped the customers to save airline agent fees. The systems that have been implemented by the AirAsia have a significant change to their company. First, AirAsia has used the Yield Management System (YMS) for taking the operating costs and in helping themselves to optimize the price as well as allocate the capacity for maximizing expected profits. For an instance, seats are revenues for AirAsia and other airline companies. Every seat is considered as a profit for them. Therefore, AirAsia has introduced a plan whereby seats are available at different prices in various points of time. Hence, reservation that has done in later time will be charged more compared to one who has reserved earlier for the same seat. As a result of this system, this has enabled AirAsia to understand the behavior of their respective customers and implement effective strategy to generate expected revenues with lowest cost. Second, AirAsia has implemented Computer Reservation System (CRS). AirAsia has used Open Skies to centralize customer data and this has helped AirAsia to track booking and the schedule of flight activities in real. Open Skies booking system which provided by Navitaire performed almost flawlessly on every single occasion and it managed to handle the most demanding requirements of AirAsias flight booking operations. On the other hand, on July 2010, AirAsia has successfully completed the implementation of its new reservation system which called New Skies. This booking system has replaced the previous system, Open Skies. Furthermore, this New Skies gives the customers a new experience as well as providing a greater convenience and generate more savings for the customers. New Skies booking system has make the procedure of booking more efficiently. This New Skies ensure the airlines to maximize the distribution channels and dynamics packaging that emphasize on direct Internet sales. For distribution, New Skies gives AirAsia the control that they need over how quickly they deploy sales fares, special promotion, discounts and electric vouchers to stay ahead of the competitors. This is wise useful for AirAsia in this modern era. It also eliminates the need to maintain multiple databases associated with paper and e-tickets which indirectly increase the operational costs. Same with Open Skies, this New Skies enable the customers to continue booking online and the AirAsia sales offices, counters as well as the call center. They also can normally self check in via the web, mobile and kiosks at the airport together with the self manage options online such as adding check in baggage weight, pick a seat and pre-book meals. However, there are some differences between the Open Skies and New Skies booking system. With the new reservation system, the customers can look for the new feature which is Low Fare Finder. It helps the customers to view the lowest fare available according to their selected destination and date for travel. Also, the customers now are able to book their seats for multi-cities in just one transaction only. For an instance, if the customer plans to fly from Kuala Lumpur to Perth to Singapore and return, the respective customer do not have to make two separate bookings which is only provided by the new reservation system only. In addition, this New Skies booking system is able to support characters such as Mandarin, Japanese and other languages whereby the Open Skies system was able to support alphanumeric characters only. Hence, AirAsia can target multilingual customers globally and stay ahead in the airline industry. Lastly, Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) is implemented by AirAsia as this enables AirAsia to successfully maintain process integrity, reduce the financial month-end closing processing time, and speed up the reporting as well as data retrieval process. Every department such as financial, marketing and sales are unified into a single IT system to allow the employees to make decisions by viewing enterprise wide information on all airline operations. And, this system helps AirAsia by focusing on capturing transactions in daily operations therefore it helps to save operational costs and this indirectly increase the efficiency and effectiveness in its operation management. Comments on the Outcome of This Adoption of IT

The Unknown Prevalence of Youth Gambling Essay -- Gamble Winning Win E

The Unknown Prevalence of Youth Gambling A child’s motivation to begin gambling is obvious. Even at an early age children are trained to idolize winning. They are taught the tortoise is the best because he wins the race. From this elementary lesson, children develop a tendency to idolize the winners and discount the losers. Children observe gambling and have an inclination to see the player raking in armfuls of chips, not the player across the table slowly losing a week’s pay at the black jack tables. They see Las Vegas portrayed in the media as a place to go to win money. They do not see the gamblers who leave the town with an empty bank account and a potential inability to provide for their families. By looking at the gambling culture in this idealized way, children are inclined to gamble when the opportunity presents itself. They may begin innocently by entering into their father’s office pool or wagering on baseball games with their friends, but the fact is many of these children will find t hemselves facing a gambling problem in years to come. I began gambling when I was thirteen with sports pools and friendly wagers with friends. Only four years later I found myself immersed in the culture of gambling; risking my money four nights a week in poker games. When I had started gambling, the stakes were only fifty cents, but now thirty and forty dollars were up for grabs. By the time I was eighteen, even these stakes were no longer enough for me. I decided that the casinos in Atlantic City were the only venues with payoffs large enough to satiate my hunger for gambling. On nothing more than an impulse I set off on a three hour drive, bound for certain victory. I found a seat at the black jack tables in Bally... ...tions. However, the nation will not take action any time soon, not without a push. As members of a society we must do our part to increase awareness about this issue. We must make an effort today to see the adolescents don’t gamble their tomorrow away. Works Cited Eckart, Dennis. Advancement of an Emerging Science. 2003. National Center for Responsible Gaming. 10 Sept. 2003 . Moiduddin, Adil. Gambling Impact and Behavior Study. 2003. The National Opinion Research Center. 10 Sept. 2003 . Willenz, Pamela. Pathological Gambling More Prevalent Among Youths Than Adults, Study Finds. 2003. American Psychological Association. 11 Sept. 2003 .

Practice Math

1. The nth term of an arithmetic sequence is given by un = 5 + 2n. (a) Write down the common difference. (1) (b) (i) (ii) Given that the nth term of this sequence is 115, find the value of n. For this value of n, find the sum of the sequence. (5) (Total 6 marks) 2. A sum of $ 5000 is invested at a compound interest rate of 6. 3 % per annum. (a) Write down an expression for the value of the investment after n full years. (1) (b) What will be the value of the investment at the end of five years? (1) (c) The value of the investment will exceed $ 10 000 after n full years. i) (ii) Write down an inequality to represent this information. Calculate the minimum value of n. (4) (Total 6 marks) 3. (a) Consider the geometric sequence ? 3, 6, ? 12, 24, †¦. (i) (ii) Write down the common ratio. Find the 15th term. (3) Consider the sequence x ? 3, x +1, 2x + 8, †¦. IB Questionbank Maths SL 1 (b) When x = 5, the sequence is geometric. (i) (ii) Write down the first three terms. Find the co mmon ratio. (2) (c) Find the other value of x for which the sequence is geometric. (4) (d) For this value of x, find (i) (ii) the common ratio; the sum of the infinite sequence. (3) (Total 12 marks) . Clara organizes cans in triangular piles, where each row has one less can than the row below. For example, the pile of 15 cans shown has 5 cans in the bottom row and 4 cans in the row above it. (a) A pile has 20 cans in the bottom row. Show that the pile contains 210 cans. (4) (b) There are 3240 cans in a pile. How many cans are in the bottom row? (4) IB Questionbank Maths SL 2 (c) (i) There are S cans and they are organized in a triangular pile with n cans in the bottom row. Show that n2 + n ? 2S = 0. Clara has 2100 cans. Explain why she cannot organize them in a triangular pile. 6) (Total 14 marks) (ii) 5. Ashley and Billie are swimmers training for a competition. (a) Ashley trains for 12 hours in the first week. She decides to increase the amount of time she spends training by 2 hou rs each week. Find the total number of hours she spends training during the first 15 weeks. (3) (b) Billie also trains for 12 hours in the first week. She decides to train for 10% longer each week than the previous week. (i) (ii) Show that in the third week she trains for 14. 52 hours. Find the total number of hours she spends training during the first 15 weeks. (4) (c)In which week will the time Billie spends training first exceed 50 hours? (4) (Total 11 marks) IB Questionbank Maths SL 3 6. The diagram shows a square ABCD of side 4 cm. The midpoints P, Q, R, S of the sides are joined to form a second square. A Q B P R D (a) (i) (ii) Show that PQ = 2 2 cm. Find the area of PQRS. S C (3) The midpoints W, X, Y, Z of the sides of PQRS are now joined to form a third square as shown. A W Q X B P Y S R Z D C (b) (i) (ii) Write down the area of the third square, WXYZ. Show that the areas of ABCD, PQRS, and WXYZ form a geometric sequence. Find the common ratio of this sequence. 3) IB Questi onbank Maths SL 4 The process of forming smaller and smaller squares (by joining the midpoints) is continued indefinitely. (c) (i) (ii) Find the area of the 11th square. Calculate the sum of the areas of all the squares. (4) (Total 10 marks) 7. Let f(x) = log3 (a) x + log3 16 – log3 4, for x > 0. 2 Show that f(x) = log3 2x. (2) (b) Find the value of f(0. 5) and of f(4. 5). (3) The function f can also be written in the form f(x) = (c) (i) Write down the value of a and of b. ln ax . ln b (ii) Hence on graph paper, sketch the graph of f, for –5 ? x ? 5, –5 ? y ? , using a scale of 1 cm to 1 unit on each axis. (iii) Write down the equation of the asymptote. (6) (d) Write down the value of f–1(0). (1) IB Questionbank Maths SL 5 The point A lies on the graph of f. At A, x = 4. 5. (e) On your diagram, sketch the graph of f–1, noting clearly the image of point A. (4) (Total 16 marks) 8. Let f(x) = Aekx + 3. Part of the graph of f is shown below. The y-inte rcept is at (0, 13). (a) Show that A =10. (2) (b) Given that f(15) = 3. 49 (correct to 3 significant figures), find the value of k. (3) (c) (i) (ii) (iii) Using your value of k, find f? (x).Hence, explain why f is a decreasing function. Write down the equation of the horizontal asymptote of the graph f. (5) IB Questionbank Maths SL 6 Let g(x) = –x2 + 12x – 24. (d) Find the area enclosed by the graphs of f and g. (6) (Total 16 marks) 9. Consider the function f(x) = px3 + qx2 + rx. Part of the graph of f is shown below. The graph passes through the origin O and the points A(–2, –8), B(1, –2) and C(2, 0). (a) Find three linear equations in p, q and r. (4) (b) Hence find the value of p, of q and of r. (3) (Total 7 marks) IB Questionbank Maths SL 7 10. Let f (x) = 4 tan2 x – 4 sin x, ? a) ? ? ? x? . 3 3 On the grid below, sketch the graph of y = f (x). (3) (b) Solve the equation f (x) = 1. (3) (Total 6 marks) IB Questionbank Maths SL 8 11. A city is concerned about pollution, and decides to look at the number of people using taxis. At the end of the year 2000, there were 280 taxis in the city. After n years the number of taxis, T, in the city is given by T = 280 ? 1. 12n. (a) (i) (ii) Find the number of taxis in the city at the end of 2005. Find the year in which the number of taxis is double the number of taxis there were at the end of 2000. (6) (b)At the end of 2000 there were 25 600 people in the city who used taxis. After n years the number of people, P, in the city who used taxis is given by P= (i) (ii) 2 560000 . 10 ? 90e – 0. 1n Find the value of P at the end of 2005, giving your answer to the nearest whole number. After seven complete years, will the value of P be double its value at the end of 2000? Justify your answer. (6) (c) Let R be the ratio of the number of people using taxis in the city to the number of taxis. The city will reduce the number of taxis if R ? 70. (i) (ii) Find the value of R at the end of 2000.After how many complete years will the city first reduce the number of taxis? (5) (Total 17 marks) IB Questionbank Maths SL 9 12. The function f is defined by f(x) = 3 9 ? x2 , for –3 < x < 3. (a) On the grid below, sketch the graph of f. (2) (b) Write down the equation of each vertical asymptote. (2) (c) Write down the range of the function f. (2) (Total 6 marks) IB Questionbank Maths SL 10 13. Let f (x) = p ? 3x , where p, q? x ? q2 2 + . Part of the graph of f, including the asymptotes, is shown below. (a) The equations of the asymptotes are x =1, x = ? , y = 2. Write down the value of (i) (ii) p; q. (2) (b) Let R be the region bounded by the graph of f, the x-axis, and the y-axis. (i) (ii) Find the negative x-intercept of f. Hence find the volume obtained when R is revolved through 360? about the x-axis. (7) (c) (i) Show that f ? (x) = 3 x 2 ? 1 ?x ? 2 ?1 ? 2 ?. (8) (ii) Hence, show that there are no maximum or minimum points on the graph of f. IB Questionbank Mat hs SL 11 (d) Let g (x) = f ? (x). Let A be the area of the region enclosed by the graph of g and the x-axis, between x = 0 and x = a, where a ? . Given that A = 2, find the value of a. (7) (Total 24 marks) 14. Two weeks after its birth, an animal weighed 13 kg. At 10 weeks this animal weighed 53 kg. The increase in weight each week is constant. (a) Show that the relation between y, the weight in kg, and x, the time in weeks, can be written as y = 5x + 3 (2) (b) (c) (d) Write down the weight of the animal at birth. (1) Write down the weekly increase in weight of the animal. (1) Calculate how many weeks it will take for the animal to reach 98 kg. (2) (Total 6 marks) IB Questionbank Maths SL 12