Language of the Exam

When a question says It means

Show that Because the answer is given in the question, it is

vital that you show all your working, so that the
examiner can see that you have reached the required
answer legitimately.

Verify that Show it is true that usually it will be possible to

verify something using a simple calculation,
e.g. Verify that (2, 5) lies on the line y 3 x 1 .

Justify that Show why something is true you will need to give
a reason.

Hence Use what you found in the last part of the question.

Write down The answer should be easy to find, requiring little or

no working.

Sketch Show on your drawing the basic features of a graph,

such as shape, intersections with the axes,
asymptotes, etc, but don't plot and join lots of points.

Identity A relationship that is true for 'all' values of the

variable, e.g. sec 2 1 tan 2

(this identity is 'undefined' for values such ).
2

Find the exact value A rounded decimal answer is not appropriate. It will
be possible to find exact values without a calculator.
For trigonometry questions in radians, exact answers
will be in terms of .

Edexcel Limited 2008 1

When a question says It means

Domain The set of possible x values for the function y f ( x)

(Input)

Range The set of possible y values for the function y f ( x)

(Output)

1
Inverse function f 1 ( x) , which is not the same as .
f ( x)

Iteration Repeated use of a process or formula (iterative

formula) to find, for example, the root of an equation.

Edexcel Limited 2008 2