ETF2700/ETF5970 Mathematics for Business

Semester 2 2016
Assignment 1
This assignment comprises 15% of the assessment for ETF2700 and 15% for ETF5970.
You must submit a hard copy of your written work (with an Assignment Cover Sheet - from the
ASSIGNMENTS section of Moodle) by 6pm on Monday 29 August 2016. Submit it to your tutor in your
tutorial (or to your tutors mailbox, 5th floor H Block).
Submissions MUST be typed. (See the Week 1 tutorial for guidance.)
ENSURE that you
submit a printed hard copy of your assignment to your tutor. Your assignment must be typed.
Name your assignment: Surname-Initials_A1.docx, eg, Trump-DJ_A1.docx.
Upload this file to Moodle (to prove that it was submitted, and that it was on time) as follows.
Go to the ASSIGNMENTS section. Click on the ASSIGNMENT 1 link to upload.
The following message will appear momentarily, File uploaded successfully.
[To later confirm your upload was successful, go to the ASSIGNMENTS section and click
on the Assignment 1 uploading link. The uploaded files name will be shown.]
NB, DO NOT submit any Excel files. You may upload only ONE file.
*
Retain your marked assignment until after the publication of final results for this unit.
There is a penalty of 10% of the marks for each day the assignment is overdue.
Extensions beyond the due date will only be allowed in special circumstances. Contact your tutor.
Do not submit your assignment in a folder stapled pages are easier for the marker.

Save trees! Double-sided printing is encouraged.

Retain your marked assignment work until after the publication of final results for this unit.
Ensure that you answer the questions which were asked.
If you dont understand what the questions are asking,
- study the units content prior to attempting the tutorial and assignment questions. This should enhance
your ability to understand the questions.
- ask a staff member to clarify the questions for you. A staff consultation roster is on Moodle.

Plagiarism
Intentional plagiarism amounts to cheating. See the Monash Policy.
Plagiarism: Plagiarism means to take and use another persons ideas and or manner of expressing them and to
pass these off as ones own by failing to give appropriate acknowledgement. This includes material from any
source, staff, students or the Internet published and unpublished works.
Collusion: Collusion is unauthorised collaboration with another person or persons.
Where there are reasonable grounds for believing that intentional plagiarism or collusion has occurred, this
will be reported to the Chief Examiner, who may disallow the work concerned by prohibiting assessment or
refer the matter to the Faculty Manager.
Mathematical concepts are often presented in the popular press, in advertising, in education, etc sometimes
well, sometimes poorly and often somewhere in-between. In several of the questions below, you are asked to
check/interpret/critically evaluate some such presentations. These questions rely on only basic mathematical
concepts. However, you will need to think about your answers. Also, ensure that you read the question carefully
and answer the question which was asked.

QUESTION 1
Refer to the document World of Numbers.docx.
(a)

Answer the following questions about the article Viva la evolution.

(i)
The article states that the ENIAC cost US$6,000,000 and that your smart phone costs 17,000
times less. According to this, how much does your smart phone cost? Show your working.
[You may ignore inflation.]
(ii)
technological change seems to accelerate as time goes on. So, while the development of
computing in the 19th and early 20th centuries was methodical, in the 21st century its
exponential. Read on and prepare to amazed .
What does the author mean when he says the development its exponential? Explain.
(iii)
boasted 5 megabytes (MB) of storage and cost a cool $3,500. in todays money it
equates to $700,000 per gigabyte (GB) or $700 million per terabyte (TB)!.
Are these calculations accurate? Explain. (Adjustment has already been made for inflation.)

(b)

There are many types of graph that we commonly encounter. Examples include time series,
deterministic relationships of the form y = f(x) [eg, taxi fare vs km travelled], scatterplots, frequency
distributions [histograms, bar(column) charts, frequency polygons], etc.
Look at the graph in the article Bolt by the Numbers. Answer all of (i) to (v) below.
(i)
Is it a time series?
Explain your answer.
(ii)
Is it a deterministic relationship?
Explain your answer.
(iii)
Is it a scatterplot?
Explain your answer.
(iv)
Is it a frequency distribution?
Explain your answer.
(v)
Is it a none of the above?
Explain your answer.

QUESTION 2
For all parts of this question, show your working.
(a)
A recipe calls for heating a quantity of water in a 600 watt microwave oven for 2 and a half minutes.
To achieve the same heating result, for how long should the water be heated in a 1,000 watt microwave
oven?
(b)

Amy Schumer's 1000 per cent pay rise for Trainwreck follow-up
Amy Schumer is being paid 10 times more for her next movie than for her first feature Trainwreck.
That film grossed U$138.3 million worldwide but Schumer, earned only U$300,000. The new
feature project, will net Schumer U$5 million, a pay rise of more than 1,000 per cent.
(i)
a pay rise of more than 1,000 per cent. Is this statement correct?
(ii)
To 1 decimal place, what is the correct percentage?

(c)

Two popular local wines are Wrights White and Freds Red.
Wrights White is sold in a 750 ml bottle and has an ABV of 9.5%.
Freds Red is sold in a 1 litre bottle and has an ABV of 12.85%.
Alcohol by volume (ABV): number of millilitres of alcohol present in 100 millilitres of the wine.
(i)
(ii)

What is the percentage difference in ABV for the two wines?

Which bottle contains more alcohol? By what percentage (to 2 decimal places)?

QUESTION 3
(a)
One person reported a distance as 3,486.72 metres (x); another reported it as 3.48672 kilometres (y).
(i)
How many decimal places does x have? How many does y have?
(ii)
Which value is reported with more significant figures: x or y? Justify your answer.
(iii)
Which value is more accurate: x or y? Justify your answer.

(b)

Packaged with your HP 10bII+ Financial Calculator (and located also in the Calculator section on
Moodle) is a
Quick Start Guide booklet (QSG)
Users Guide (UG).
When you refer to items in these guides, quote the page numbers at the bottom of the relevant page.
eg, in the QSG, p36 is indicated at the bottom of the page by

. [Disregard

which appears at the top of the screen.]

In answering the following questions, quote any relevant text and/or page numbers.
(i)
(ii)
(iii)
(iv)

In the Quick Start Guide, what information is provided about the number of decimal places
displayed on the calculator? Is this information accurate?
In the Users Guide p41-3, what information is provided about the number of decimal places
displayed on the calculator? Is this information accurate?
What is the maximum number of decimal places that can be displayed on the calculator?
What is the maximum number of digits that can be displayed on the calculator?

QUESTION 4
ChemiCon manufactures industrial chemicals at its Altona factory (A) and its Berwick factory (B). Recently, the
quality control department has been studying one the products - Organosol looking at the relationship between
the thickness of the liquid and the level of contaminants it contains. Test results are available from the last 80
batches (40 from each factory).
Organosol.xlsx contains the following variables.
Factory
Factory A or factory B.
Thickness
The thickness of the Organosol (in micro Pa).
{If you put this variable into groups (bins), use 0 up to but not including 25,
25 up to but not including 50, etc.}
Contaminants The level of contaminants in the Organosol (in ppm: parts per million).
Provide appropriate graphs and/or tables and/or calculations and/or explanations to inform ChemiCon what this
set of data reveals about the level of contaminants (loc) in Organosol.
QUESTION 5
(a)
(b)
(c)

log a (3 x2)log a ( 4x )=log a 2

(i)

Solve for x:

(ii)

What constraints (if any) are there on the value of a in (i)?

For b (0, ), does (logb x)/(logb y) give the same answer no matter what is the value of b?
Show your working.
Simplify the expression:

ax a x
3 a1x

(d)
The number of ants living in a tree stump t weeks after it was invaded by a rival
colony is collated in
the spreadsheet Ants.xlsx.
(i)
A myrmecologist described the growth in the size of the colony as
exponential. Do you agree?
If you dont agree, suggest a different description for the growth. Justify your answer.
(ii)
On the basis of the data in Ants.xlsx, estimate the number of ants in the tree stump 30
weeks

after it was invaded. Explain how you obtain your answer.

QUESTION 6
For three food items, the 1985 and 2005 prices (in current $) and quantities consumed by a typical consumer are
shown in Food Items.xlsx.
(a) With 1985 as the base year, calculate an index for 2005 that
(i)
uses the Laspeyres method.
(ii)
uses the Paasche method.
(iii)
measures, in current (ie, nominal) dollar terms, change in the typical consumers budget.
(b)

The 3 methods in (a) all represent an attempt to measure price changes for this group of items from 1985
to 2005.
(i)
Briefly explain what information is conveyed by the value you obtained for the Laspeyres
index in (a)(i).
(ii)
Choose any one of the methods in (a) and state one disadvantage of using it in practice.
(iii)
Choose any one of the methods in (a) and state one advantage of using it in practice.

(c)

If inflation averages 2.5% per annum, after 15 years 31% of the real value of each dollar will be lost
and, after 28 years, 50% will be lost.
p1045, Australian Financial Planning Handbook 2015-16
(i)
Are these calculations accurate? Show your working.
(ii)
If inflation averages x% per annum, after 28 years 75% of the real value of each dollar will be
lost. Calculate x. Show your working. For this problem, you MUST use Excels Solver.
Explain how you did so. (You may use screen shots.)

QUESTION 7
TB4 p99 #6(a)&(b) together, (c).
You may use the $ sign instead of .
Part (d) has been added below. You must answer (a), (b), (c) and (d).
(d)

(i)

Calculate the price elasticity of supply at Q = 35.

(ii)

Interpret the value you calculated in (d)(i).

(iii)

Is your interpretation in (d)(ii) just an interpretation of the slope of a linear function, or is it

something different? Explain your answer.

(iv)

Look at the sign of your value for the price elasticity of supply in (d)(i). Is it the same sign as
you would expect for a price elasticity of demand? Explain why(not).

Excel Tips
If you need help with Excel,
use Excels Help/Microsoft Excel Help menu item.
see the EXCEL section on the Moodle site for some Help files.
To display the formulas which underlie your spreadsheet calculations

While pressing the Ctrl key, press the ` key. (You may now need to widen some columns of the
spreadsheet in order to fully display the revealed formulas.)
Copy this formula display to your Word document.

While pressing the Ctrl key, press the

~
`

key in order to return to the usual display.

To alter the page margins, in order to optimise the use of a page before printing it
Click on the Office Button and select Print/Print Preview/Preview/ShowMargins. Then, click on and drag the
margins.
To print in Landscape
view, rather than in Portrait
view
Click on Page Layout (at the top of the screen)/Orientation/Landscape.
To print the gridlines which border the spreadsheet cells
Select Click on Page Layout (at the top of the screen) /Sheet Options/Gridlines/Print
To print the Row (1, 2, 3, etc) and Column (A, B, C, etc) headings
Before printing, select Click on Page Layout (at the top of the screen) /Sheet Options/Headings/Print

To Copy part of your spreadsheet, eg to Paste it into a Word document

Select the desired cells in Excel.
Click on the Copy command.
Go to the Word document and select the triangle under the Paste command and select
Paste Special/Picture(Enhanced Metafile).
An alternative to the procedures above is to use Windows Snipping Tool when your spreadsheet is displayed.
This captures an image of the desired part of your screen, which may then be Pasted into a Word document. Use
Words Crop tool to reduce the Pasted image to your desired selection.
Snipping Tool is available via START button/Programs/Accessories for Windows version 7 and beyond.
If you are unable to make Excel display the row and column headings clearly on your printout, then you MUST
write them on by hand.

Word Tips
To capture a screen image & Paste it into Word
To capture the image (any image, eg, an Excel page, an internet page, a photo, etc) currently displayed on your
screen, use Windows Snipping Tool.
Then, go to the desired location in your Word document. Hold the Ctrl key and press the letter V.
Snipping Tool is available via START button/Programs/Accessories for Windows version 7 and beyond.
To copy a table or graph from Excel & Paste it as an image into Word
Select, then Copy the table or graph in Excel.

Go to the desired location in your Word document. From the top of the screen, select Paste, Paste
Special, then Picture (Enhanced Metafile).

To trim (Crop) an image in Word

Select View/Toolbars/Picture and click on the Crop icon:

Apply the Crop icon to the image.

To arrange graphs and pictures within a Word document

Graphs (eg, from Excel) and pictures can be more manageable if you insert a table into Word and place your
graphs and pictures (and text) into cells of the table.

You should know these key words which appear in assignment and exam questions.
Compare
Contrast
Criticise
(critically appraise)
Define
Describe
Diagram
Discuss
Enumerate
Evaluate
Explain
Illustrate
Justify
Outline
Review
State
Summarise

Identify characteristics or qualities that resemble each other. Emphasise similarities and also mention
differences where appropriate. For example, the comparison of fundamental and technical analysis; you
should define what is meant by each concept before undertaking the comparison.
Stress the dissimilarities and differences of things, events, problems or qualities.
Express your judgement about the merit or truth of the factors or views mentioned. Draw conclusions,
discussing their limitations and good points. eg, critically appraise
State concise, clear and authoritative meanings. Give the limits of the definition, but omit detailed
explanations. Show how the item defined differs from items in other classes.
Recount, characterise, outline or relate in sequence. Emphasise the most important points. You are not
required to explain or interpret.
A drawing, chart, plan or graph. Diagrams should be labelled and there should be an accompanying
explanation.
Examine, analyse carefully, and give reasons for and against. Be complete, and give details.
Provide an itemised list, which may often be expressed in point form.
You are required to appraise in order to make a judgement. This means you should carefully appraise
the problems, referring to advantages, limitations, costs and benefits as appropriate.
Clarify, interpret and elaborate on the material presented. Give reasons for differences of opinion or
results, and try to analyse causes. Your focus is on the how and why of a particular issue. [It is not
sufficient to merely state a result.]
Use a concrete example, diagram or figure to explain or clarify a problem.
Prove or give reasons for conclusions or decisions.
Organise a description under main points and subordinate points. Omit minor details. Stress the
arrangement or classification of things.
Examine a subject critically, analysing and commenting on the important statements.
Present the main points in brief, clear sequence, usually omitting details or examples.
Give the main points or facts in condensed form. Use a chronological or systematic format.