Joyce S. Batty

Joyce Batty Pure Mathematics (2 Vols)

This pair of books covers the whole of the 'A'-Level Core syllabus and is therefore a counterpart to the ubiquitious contribution to this subjsct by Bostock & Chandler.

Where Joyce Batty sets herself apart from 'B&C' , to my mind, is on her inclusion of 'S'-Level material. Each of the exercises in the book is split into an 'A' and a 'B' section, with the 'B' exercises being trickier. There are the usual miscellaneous exercises, taken from past papers, at the end of each chapter.

At the end of Volume two, there are just two example examination papers to try out, one of which is mainly draws from JMB 'S'-papers. This particular selection of 14 questions is an interesating expose of what 'S' Papers were about.

There is a lot of Calculus involving things like sketching the graph of y = e to the power [modulus: one minus x]; an intuitive exploration of the triangle inequality involving the difference between the area created by a graph in a given interval and that created by a quadrilateral where a straight line replaces the chord of the function; splitting a definite integral to deal with a discontinity in the graph over the range of integration; trigonometric equations, some of which combine circular and hyperbolic ratios and require trig and trigh to be expressed in terms of e; a question involving the derivatives of roots of a cubic polynomial; series and radius of convergence; a strangely easy vector question and a much more difficult one.

Bogan

PS it's a while after I wrote this and I have been able to get that 'much more difficult' vector question sorted out and- hey- it wasn't worth the wait. I reckon now that there are no difficult vector questions, just fuzzy logic in textbooks.… (mais)