Skip to content
Senior External School (Year 11-12)

Mathematics A

Carole Godfrey
Access code required

The study of financial, geometric, statistical, and operational mathematics.

Mathematics A will assist to:

  • Develop knowledge and skills of computation, estimation and measurement;
  • Help manage financial affairs in an informed way;
  • Develop the capacity to interpret and analyse information presented in a variety of forms;
  • Make judgements based on evidence and reasoning.

Here is the course outline:

1. April Exam Resources

Weeks 1 - 5

2. Basic Calculations

number systems, operations, linear equations, approximation, calculator skills, metric system, rates and ratio

3. Elements of Applied Geometry

1 - Perimeters and areas, including compound figures involving rectangles, trapeziums, triangles, circles, quadrants. 2 - Surface area of prisms and cylinders. 3 - Volumes, including compound figures of prisms, pyramids, cylinders, cones and spheres. 4 - Trigonometric ratios and Pythagoras’ theorem. 5 - Latitude, longitude and measurement of time.

4. Understanding Data

1 - variables – nominal or ordinal (discrete and continuous). 2 - collecting data –observation, experiments, surveys, random sampling. 3 - interpretation of graphical displays of data including stem-and-leaf plots, bar charts, pie graphs, histograms.

5. Managing Money

1. earning money- salary, wage, overtime, commission, piece rate 2. industrial awards (notes) 3. taxation 4. spending money, profit, loss, discount 5. budgeting, owning and running a car

6. Linking in Two and Three Dimensions

1 - interpretation of scale drawings and plans. 2 - drawing simple scale drawings and plans. 3 - geometry of bracing for rigidity. 4 - practical tests for squareness and plumb. 5 - estimation of quantities and costs in construction.

7. Data Exploration and Analysis

1 - mean, mode, median. 2 - range and inter-quartile range, standard deviation. 3 - 5-number summaries and box and whisker plots. 4 - comparison of data sets.

8. Managing Money II

1 - simple and compound interest. 2 - effective and nominal rates. 3 - inflation, appreciation, depreciation (str. Line and diminishing value. 4 - present value of a lump sum payment. 5 - consumer credit- personal loans, housing loans (including cost of loan) loan repayment tables, credit and debit cards. 6 - investments (savings acc., term deposits, real estate and stock market).

9. Probability and Statistics

1 - suitability of sample as representative of population. 2 - sample statics as estimates of population parameters. 3 - probability as a measure of chance or likelihood; as a relative frequency of equally likely outcomes; 0 1   P. 4 - tree diagrams. 5 - interpretation in context of row and column percentages for a contingency table.

10. Maps and compasses – Navigation

1. review of earth geometry, latitude and longitude 2. compass bearings and reverse (back) bearings 3. magnetic variation, true and magnetic bearings 4. nautical miles and knots 5. use of maps and charts, compasses, dividers and parallel rulers or their equivalent 6. methods of fixing a position - bearing fix, transit fix, dead reckoning, running fix, double the angle on the bow

11. Operations Research – Networks and Queuing

1. networks including node branch path and tree 2. shortest path algorithm 3. minimum spanning tree algorithm 4. critical path analysis 5. slack time in critical path analysis 6. single and multiple queues with constant service and arrival times 7. the effect on queues of random arrival and service times

12. Mathematics A Subject Handouts 2019

Class subject handouts to be used for further study.

Back to top