BlogMathematicsQCAA Unit 4 General Maths IA3 – Short Answer Practice Questions

QCAA Unit 4 General Maths IA3 – Short Answer Practice Questions

QCE Unit 4 General Maths Short Answer Practice Questions IA3 - Featured Image

About to take your Unit 4 General Maths IA3 Short Answer test? To help you get in some solid prep, we’ve come up with a bunch of practice questions you can answer.

These simple familiar practice questions come with solutions too, so that you know if you’ve gotten the answers right or if there are areas you need to work on!

Let’s dive into the questions!

Short Answer Practice Questions

Question 1 (3 marks)

Write the first three terms of a sequence defined by tn = 0.5tn-1. The first term is 1000.

Question 2 (3 marks)

A sequence with a relation defined as tn+1 = 0.25tn, where t1 = 120. Find t3 and t5.

Question 3 (2 marks)

John takes out a $10,000 loan with simple interest at 8.2% per year. How much will John have to pay back in 5 years?

Question 4 (1 mark)

State the formula to calculate effective interest.

Question 5 (2 marks)

Having no money to invest, Jake wants to maximise his interest during his first investment. Which option is best? Justify your answer.

  • 3.1% compounding weekly
  • 3.1% compounding monthly

Question 6 (2 marks)

An investment of $10000 is made at a fixed rate of interest compounding annually. Does the graph below represent this situation? Justify your answer.

QCE Unit 4 General Maths IA3 Short Answer Practice Questions - Q6

Question 7 (3 marks)

Eva invests $35000 and will earn compound interest per annum. Explain why a monthly compounding interest at 4.6% would be better than a weekly one at 0.25%.

Question 8 (12 marks)

Produce recurrence relations models for the following circumstances:

(a) $3000 invested 4.3% p.a. compounding weekly. (2 marks)

(b) $6000 invested at 6.7% p.a. compounding monthly. (2 marks)

(c) $8000 invested at 9.5% p.a. compounding quarterly. (2 marks)

(d) $1200 invested at 2.4% p.a. compounding monthly. (2 marks)

(e) $2800 invested at 6.6% p.a. compounding quarterly. (2 marks)

(f) $4500 invested at 3.5% p.a. compounding monthly. (2 marks)

Question 9 (3 marks)

Tenile invested $20,000 that has grown to a balance of $21,522.15 after 18 months with interest compounding monthly. Determine the percentage annual interest rate for Tenile’s investment. Round your answer to two decimal places.

Question 10 (7 marks)

How many terms would we have to write down in the arithmetic sequence:

(a) 5, 7, 9, 11, … before we find a term greater than 25? (1 mark)

(b) 132, 182, 232, 282, … before we find a term greater than 1000? (1 mark)

(c) 100, 96, 92, 88, … before we find a term less than 71? (1 mark)

(d) 10, 16, 22, 28, … before we find a term equal to 52? (1 mark)

(e) 0.33, 0.66, 0.99, 1.32, … before we find a term greater than 2? (1 mark)

(f) −17, −15, −13, −11, … before we find a positive term? (1 mark)

(g) 127, 122, 117, 112, … before we find a term less than zero? (1 mark)

Question 11 (1 mark)

State the rule of flat-rate depreciation.

Question 12 (2 marks)

Suppose one Bitcoin was valued at just $0.33 in 2013. It was foolishly estimated its value would increase by 5.6% every year. What would Dogecoin be valued at in 2021 according to such an estimation?

Question 13 (3 marks)

An arithmetic sequence has rule tn = 6 − 7n. Find t1 and the common difference d. 

Write the first three terms of a sequence defined by tn = 0.5tn-1. The first term is 1000.

Question 14 (16 marks)

Write down the first three terms of the geometric sequence in which:

(a) The fifth term is 81 and the eighth term is 2187. (4 marks)

(b) The second term is 10000 and the fifth term is 1250. (4 marks)

(c) The third term is 40 and the sixth term is −320. (4 marks)

(d) The second term is 160 and the fourth term is 250 (r > 0). (4 marks)

QCAA Unit 4 General Maths Short Answer Practice Solutions

Click here to download the solutions to the practice questions above!

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Vittorio Manessi is an Art of Smart tutor based in Queensland studying environmental science. He was one of the first Year 12 students to study under the new ATAR system in Queensland. He enjoys Maths, Science, English and Ancient History and is keen to share his knowledge of the QCE by making awesome resources.

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