Conventional Questions

Modified Exam Questions (HKCEE 2006 − HKDSE 2018)

1. The figure shows a sequence of tables filled with integers. The 1st table consists of 1
row and 1 column, and 1 is assigned to the cell of the 1st table. For any integer n > 1, the
nth table consists of n rows and n columns, and the integers in the cells of the nth table
satisfy the following conditions:
(1) The integer in the cell at the top left corner is n.
(2) In each row, the integer in the cell of the (r + 1)th column is greater than that of
the rth column by 1, where 1  r  n − 1.
(3) In each column, the integer in the cell of the (r + 1)th row is greater than that of
rth row by 1, where 1  r  n − 1.

2nd column
1st column
3 4 5
1st row 2 3 4 5 6
1
2nd row
3 4 5 6 7 …
1st table 2nd table 3rd table

(a) Construct and complete the 5th table.

(b) Find the sum of all integers in the 1st row of the 100th table.
(c) Find the sum of all integers in the 100th table.
(d) Is there an even number k such that the sum of all integers in the kth table is an odd
number? Explain your answer.
Public Exam Reference: HKCEE 2011 Paper 1 Q15

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2.
y
A A

Q Q
I I

x
B D O P C B D O P C

Figure (a) Figure (b)

(a) In Figure (a), BC is the diameter of the semicircle ABC with centre O. D is a point
lying on BC such that AC = AD. I is the incentre of ACD. AI is produced to meet
BC at P. CI is produced to meet AB at Q.
(i) Prove that CAP  DAP.
(ii) By considering CPI and CAQ, prove that AQ  CP = AC  PI.
(b) A rectangular coordinate system, with O as the origin, is introduced to Figure (a) so
that the coordinates of C and D are (50, 0) and (–22, 0) respectively and A lies in the
first quadrant (see Figure (b)). It is found that AQ : AC = 1 : 2.
(i) Write down the coordinates of P.
(ii) Find the equation of the inscribed circle of ACD.

Public Exam Reference: HKCEE 2007 Paper 1 Q17

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3. It is given that g(x) partly varies as x2 and partly varies as x.
Suppose that g(1) = −1 and g(−1) = 3.
(a) Find g(x).
(b) Let A be the vertex of the graph of y = g(x) and B be the vertex of the graph
y = 29 − g(3x).
(i) Using the method of completing the square, find the coordinates of A.
(ii) Write down the coordinates of B.
 95 
(iii) The coordinates of the point C are  , 0  . Let D be the circumcentre of
 2 
ABC. Describe the geometric relationship between B, C and D. Explain your
answer.
Public Exam Reference: HKDSE 2018 Paper 1 Q18

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Extra EYA or Section B Questions
4. The graph in the figure shows the linear relation between log 27 x and log 9 y . The slope
and the intercept on the horizontal axis of the graph are 2 and −1 respectively. Express
the relation between x and y in the form y = mx n , where m and n are constants.
log9 y

log27 x
−1 O

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 x x2
5. Let f ( x) = 1 + − .
5 300
(a) (i) Using the method of completing the square, find the coordinates of the vertex
of the graph of y = f (x) .
(ii) If the graph of y = g (x) is obtained by translating the graph of y = f (x)
rightwards by 8 units and enlarging it to 3 times the original along the y-axis,
find g(x).
(iii) If the graph of y = h(x) is obtained by translating the graph of y = 2 f ( x )
rightwards by 8 units and enlarging it to 3 times the original along the y-axis,
find h(x).
(b) A researcher performs an experiment to study the relation between the number of
cell X (n thousand) growing in a period and the temperature (TC) under some
controlled conditions. According to the data of n and T recorded in the table below,
the researcher suggests using the formula n = 2 f (T ) to describe the relation.
T a1 a2 a3 a4 a5 a6 a7 a8
n b1 b2 b3 b4 b5 b6 b7 b8
(i) According to the formula suggested by the researcher, find the temperatures at
which the number of cell X is 2 thousand.
(ii) The researcher performs another experiment to study the relation between the
number of cell Y (m thousand) growing in a period and the temperature (SC)
under the same controlled conditions and the data of m and S are recorded in
the table below.
S a1 + 8 a2 + 8 a3 + 8 a4 + 8 a5 + 8 a6 + 8 a7 + 8 a8 + 8
m 3b1 3b2 3b3 3b4 3b5 3b6 3b7 3b8
Using the formula suggested by the researcher, propose a formula to express m
in terms of S.
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6. (a) Find the value of k such that x – 3 is a factor of 2x3 + kx2 + 17x – 6.
(b) The figure shows the graph of y = 4x2 – 22x + 34. B is a variable point on the graph
in the first quadrant. A and C are the feet of perpendiculars from B to the x-axis and
y-axis respectively.
y
y = 4x2 – 22x + 34

B
C
A
A x
O

(i) Let (h, 0) be the coordinates of A. Express the area of OABC in terms of h.
(ii) Someone claimed that there are only two different positions of B such that the
area of OABC is 12. Do you agree? Explain your answer.

Public Exam Reference: HKDSE 2012 Paper 1 Q13

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7. Let f(x) = 2x3 + hx2 – x + 6, where h is a constant. It is given that f(x) = (x + 1)(ax2 +
bx + c), where a, b and c are constants.
(a) Find a, b and c.
(b) It is claimed that –1 is the only real root of the equation f(x) = 0. Do you agree?
Explain your answer.
Public Exam Reference: HKDSE 2013 Paper 1 Q12

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8. The equation of the circle C is x2 + y2 – 10x – 38y + 350 = 0. Denote the centre of C
by G.
(a) Write down the coordinates of G.
(b) The equation of the straight line L is 12x + 5y + 183 = 0. It is found that C and L do
not intersect. Let P be a point on L such that P is nearest to G.
(i) Find the distance between P and G.
(ii) Let Q be a moving point on C. When Q is nearest to P,
(1) describe the geometric relationship between P, Q and G;
(2) find the ratio of the area of OPQ to the area of OGQ, where O is the
origin.
Public Exam Reference: HKDSE 2013 Paper 1 Q14

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9. The circle C passes through the point B(–8, 16) and the centre of C is the point G(0, 1).
(a) Find the equation of C.
(b) P is a moving point in the rectangular coordinate plane such that BP = GP. Denote
the locus of P by .
(i) Find the equation of .
(ii) Describe the geometric relationship between  and the line segment BG.
(iii) If  cuts C at Q and R, find the perimeter of the quadrilateral BQGR.
Public Exam Reference: HKDSE 2014 Paper 1 Q12

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10. Let f (x) = 8x4 + ax3 + bx2 – 41x + c, where a, b and c are constants. The remainder
when f (x) is divided by x – 1 is less than the remainder when f (x) is divided by x + 1 by
50. It is given that f (x)  (px2 + qx + 3)(4x2 – 2x + r), where p, q and r are constants.
(a) Find p, q and r.
(b) How many real roots does the equation f (x) = 0 have? Explain your answer.
Public Exam Reference: HKDSE 2016 Paper 1 Q14

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11. Let f (x) ＝ 4x3 − 16x2 + 8x + 3. When f (x) is divided by 2x2 − ax + 3, the
quotient and the remainder are 2x − 3 and bx + c respectively, where a, b and c are
constants.
(a) Find a.
(b) Let g (x) be a cubic polynomial with rational coefficients such that when g (x) is
divided by 2x2 − ax + 3, the remainder is − bx − c.
(i) Prove that f ( x) + g ( x) is divisible by 2x2 − ax + 3.
(ii) Someone claims that all the roots of the equation f ( x) + g ( x) = 0 are rational
numbers. Do you agree? Explain your answer.
Public Exam Reference: HKDSE 2017 Paper 1 Q14

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 2
 1
12. Let g(x) = x  x −  + px + q , where p and q are constants. It is given that x − 1 is a
 2
factor of g(x). When g(x) is divided by x + 1, the remainder is 7q + 3.
(a) Find p and q.
(b) Someone claims that the equation g(x) = 0 has at least one irrational root. Do you
agree? Explain your answer.
Public Exam Reference: HKDSE 2018 Paper 1 Q12

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13. The coordinates of the centre of the circle C are (−2, 1). Denote the radius of C by r.
Let L be the straight line sx + 4y + 52 = 0, where s is a constant. It is given that L is a
tangent to C.
(a) Find the equation of C in terms of r. Hence, express r2 in terms of s.
(b) L passes through the point P(16, −25).
(i) Find r.
(ii) It is given that L cuts the x-axis at the point Q. Let R be a point such that C is
the inscribed circle of PQR. Is PQR an acute-angled triangle? Explain your
answer.
Public Exam Reference: HKDSE 2018 Paper 1 Q19

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14. AOB is a thin triangular metal sheet, where AO = 40 cm, AB = 26 cm and
AOB = 37. It is given that ABO is an obtuse angle.
(a) Find ABO.
(b) In the figure, the thin metal sheet AOB is held such that only the vertex O lies on the
horizontal ground. P and Q are points lying on the horizontal ground vertically
below the vertices A and B respectively. AB produced meets the horizontal ground at
the point R. A craftsman finds that AP = 12 cm and BQ = 3 cm.

(i) Find the distance between B and R.

(ii)Find the area of AOR.
(iii)
Find the inclination of the thin metal sheet AOB to the horizontal ground.
(iv)The craftsman claims that the area of POR is less than 360 cm2. Do you
agree? Explain your answer.
(Give the answers correct to 3 significant figures if necessary.)
Public Exam Reference: HKDSE 2017 Paper 1 Q19

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15. (a) In Figure (a), PQRS is a paper card in the shape of a trapezium. It is given that
PS // QR, PS = 30 cm, PSR = 110, RPS = 25 and RPQ = 85.
P S

Q R

Figure (a)

Find the length of RS.

(b) The paper card in Figure (a) is folded along PR such that the distance between Q
and S is 35 cm (see Figure (b)).
P

S
Q

Figure (b)

(i) Find QRS.

(ii) Find the angle between the plane PRS and the plane PQR.
(Give the answers correct to 3 significant figures if necessary.)
Public Exam Reference: HKDSE 2018 Paper 1 Q17

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16. A box contains 8 bottles of orange juice, 6 bottles of apple juice and 4 bottles of lemon
juice. If 5 bottles of juice are random drawn from the box at the same time,
(a) find the probability that exactly 3 bottles of apple juice are drawn;
(b) find the probability that at most 3 bottles of apple juice are drawn.
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17. If 6 boys and 4 girls randomly form a queue, find the probability that every girl is just
behind a boy.
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 18. In a quiz, the standard deviation of the distribution of the scores of a class of
students is 10 marks. The standard scores of Andy and Carol are −1.2 and 2.7
respectively. Andy gets 55 marks. A student claims that the range of the distribution is
less than 38 marks. Is the claim correct? Explain your answer.
Public Exam Reference: HKDSE 2016 Paper 1 Q16

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19. The stem-and-leaf diagram below shows the distribution of the monthly salaries (in
dollars) of the employees in a company.
Stem (ten thousands) Leaf (thousands)
1 1 1 2 4 4 9 9 9
2 0 4 a b 9
3 2 8
It is given that the mean and the inter-quartile range of the above distribution are $21
000 and $13 000 respectively.
(a) Find the range and the standard deviation of the above distribution. (Give the
answer correct to 3 significant figures.)
(b) If an employee is randomly selected from the company, find the probability that the
monthly salary of the selected employee exceeds $27 000.
Public Exam Reference: HKDSE 2017 Paper 1 Q11

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20. The box-and-whisker diagram below shows the distribution of the weights of the
students in class A. It is given that the range and the inter-quartile range of this
distribution are 39 kg and 14 kg respectively.

Weight (kg)
42 x 60 73 y

(a) Find x and y.

(b) There are 11 students in class B and 6 of them are of weight 60 kg. It is given that
the range of the weights of the students in class B is 20 kg. Class A and class B are
now combined to form a team so as to join a competition. A student from the team
claims that the range of the weights of the students in the team and the range of the
weights of the students in class A must be the same. Do you agree? Explain your
answer
Public Exam Reference: HKDSE 2018 Paper 1 Q10

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