Recap and Gotta-Know’s: Advanced Mathematics Section

1. Overall, the math review chapter seems daunting as there are a ton of
concepts reviewed, but 80% of the questions I encountered on the practice
and real exams were NOT as complicated as the diagnostic and review
examples make it seem.
2. Trends/notes
a. Know how to use eqn’s for a line (pt slope and y=mx+b)- you’ll be
given some points and have to derive the line
b. Quadratic equation might come in handy for weird roots
c. Know how to do division of a polynomial already knowing 1 root (i.e.
x+2 INTO x^3+4x^2+5x….)
d. I got asked for the Volume of a sphere given a radius
e. Basic trig
f. *Interior angle formula for a polygon was re-occurring (on eqn
manual)
g. Some ellipse or parabola problem
h. Equation for a CIRCLE
i. Don’t forget about solving for log’s < -- > exponents! Easy points
j. Do a quick scrub of complex / polar coordinates.
k. MATRICES! – I think I had 4 math problems just on matrices:
i. Determinant
ii. Transpose
iii. Addition
iv. Multiplication
v. YOUTUBE how to perform matrix math on your Casio fx-115
(or ask me)
l. VECTOR math! (like matrices, NOT HARD vector problems, but you
have to remember little things like:
i. Unit vectors
ii. What the dot product does
iii. What the curl (A x B) does
iv. What Divergence is
v. What the gradient does (partial derivatives wrt each particular
variable)
vi. Identities
m. CALCULUS (nothing super complex, but the little stuff that might be
rusty…)
i. Tests for Min, Max, Inflection
ii. Critical points
iii. Taking a partial derivative
n. CENTRIODS- never had any weird shapes (only squares and triangles
then just take the weighted avg (sum x*A / sum A)
o. INERTIA- parallel axis theorem (review, I had 1 questions that were
easy bc I remembered how to use it. I = Ic + Ad^2)
 p. DIFF EQ’s – I had one question asking for the homogenous (f(x) = 0)
solution in which I just deducted to solve for the roots of the given
equation.
q. I did *NOT* use any Fourier or Laplace on my exam. Not saying it
won’t be there, but I think those questions aren’t asked as heavily as
the more common stuff.
r. Numerical Methods
i. Again, can’t remember this being asked on the practice or real
exam – maybe “root-mean-squared” (RMS) might pop up once,
but just know how to use the equations provided.

*Hope this helps in your studies. It’s really all about throwing a little oil on the
squeakier math wheels that we seldom use. Keep pressing on!*