Unit 3 Description
Unit 3 of Specialist Mathematics contains three topics: ‘Vectors in three dimensions’, ‘Complex numbers’ and ‘Functions and sketching graphs’. The study of vectors was introduced in Unit 1 with a focus on vectors in two-dimensional space. In this unit, three-dimensional vectors are studied and vector equations and vector calculus are introduced, with the latter extending students’ knowledge of calculus from Mathematical Methods. Cartesian and vector equations, together with equations of planes, enables students to solve geometric problems and to solve problems involving motion in three-dimensional space.The Cartesian form of complex numbers was introduced in Unit 2, and the study of complex numbers is now extended to the polar form.
The study of functions and techniques of graph sketching, begun in Mathematical Methods, is extended and applied in sketching graphs and solving problems involving integration.
Access to technology to support the computational aspects of these topics is assumed.