Olivera

I have a Geography exam in two weeks (A2 level - Unit 4) which involves writing a report. There's an indicative research focus given 4 weeks in advance and I've done a couple of report drafts and will do a third.

Given that there is a 1.5 hour time limit in the exam I would be grateful for advice on best ways to condense information, other things to bear in mind when report-writing and also how much detail one should go into. I'm in home-education so I don't have any teachers to ask.

I'm starting to think that a key ideas diagram is the best way is to introduce each section.

If it would be useful, my research focus is:

Explore the role of geomorphological & climatic processes in the formation of glacial and periglacial landscapes.

Research examples of relict & active glacial landscapes in different locations.

I've done all research thoroughly and explored all the processes, I'm now trying to sort out how best to group the information and what to include.

With regards to the 'Methodology' section, does this have to be near the beginning of a report or can it be at the end?

Advice would be much appreciated,

Many thanks

In February 1990, the government of Bangladesh, faced with a swelling of the country's current account defecit, tightened its currency controls. Importers were required to provide a 50% cash deposit when opening new letter of credit.

A letter of credit is a common type of loan common in the import/export trade.

Explain why the government measure outlined in the above passage could lead to

a) an improvement in the current account position

b) a rise in the value of the Bangladesh currency, the Taka

I don't understand this question too well (terminology mainly) and the concept. Could someone please give me a starting point for what I should be thinking about for a) and b) - particularly b) please, I've always found exchange rates/currency topics somewhat confusing.

I imagine for a) the 50% cash deposit required might disourage importers from importing to Bangladesh, meaning that import consumption will be less, meaning an improvement in the current account position.

Help with these two questions would be greatly appreciated.

Many thanks

Oli

Kwik-Fit with Ford in 1999.

Kwik fit is a car repair firm, Ford a car manufacturer..

I think its a vertical merger since this would be a merger between two firms at different stages of production in the same industry, but I can't figure whether this is an example of forward integration (a supplier merging with one of its buyers) or backward integration (a purchaser buying one of its suppliers)...

Presumably in this merger it was Ford that bought Kwik-Fit.

Could someone please help clarify this?

Many thanks

Oli

This question is in a chapter on 'Growth, Mergers and efficiency'.

I get that boutique hotels and such like exist

-where economies of scale are small relative to market size

I also get that the cost of production for a large scale producer may be higher than for a small company

and that small firms can be monopolists in localities.

I don't quite get the wording of this question and similarly I'm not sure how to phrase an answer either...

Please help?

Many thanks Oli

Ok, there are three countries:

England, Portugal and Chile.

All three produce DVDs, Sweaters, Beefburgers and Chocolate.

Cost per unit in worker hours for each of these goods respectively, is as follows:

England: 20, 10, 8, 20

Portugal: 30, 8, 12, 30

Chile: 40, 8, 4, 25

My question asks:

Which country has a comparative advantage in the production of

(i) DVDs (ii) sweaters (iii) beefburgers (iv) chocolates

Well, when I answered this it seems that England has the comparative advantage in the production of all these goods...is that right?

My economics book has this definition:

COMPARATIVE ADVANTAGE - exists when a country is able to produce a good more cheaply relative to other goods produced domestically than another country.

Would find it helpful if someone who knows about this sort of thing could comment on whether I got the right answer for this :)

Many thanks

Oli

Many scientists have predicted that the destruction of Brazilian rainforests will add to the greenhouse effect, in turn leading to a rise in world temperatures and a rise in sea levels. Much of the destruction is being carried out by ranchers who wish to clear land to rear cattle. They can earn a profit by selling beef to First World countries such as the USA and the UK.

Using a prduction possibility frontier (putting 'beef' on one axis and 'rainforest' on the other), discuss whether a ban on the felling of Brazilian rain forests would lead to Pareto efficiency (ie no-one can be made better off by transferring resources from one industry to another without making someone else worse off).

Ok, well having thought about this, say rainforest is along the x-axis, I think that rainforest should be at the maximum 'level of output' so to speak...basically on the x-axis as far to the right as possible. However what I'm confused with is that this technically means there would be no beef production, but that doesn't quite make sense because beef can be produced elsewhere apart from in cleared Brazilian rainforests...

A ban on felling of Brazilian forest trees would mean no beef production in latin america, so what would that mean?

Please help me out, I'm baffled with this

Many thanks

Oli

To what extent do consumers benefit from being offered branded goods, such as Coca-Cola, rather than non-branded goods, to purchase?

I've had a think about this and I cannot come up with a single real benefit from being offered branded goods to purchase. What's the difference if the drink is called coca-cola or something else if its the same drink?

Help please.

Many thanks

Oli

I've got a question in my Economics book:

What are the costs to Coca-Cola, the company, of owning the world's most valuable branded product?

(I know it's not currently the world's most valuable brand but this question is referring to 2004/05 when it was).

Can someone help out with this? I think it would be something to do with having built its brand and hence dependency on one product, not sure how to word it..

My book doesn't give answers, and I need something to start from.

Many thanks

Oli :)

I've got a question in my Economics book that I am very stuck with.

For a bicycle company:

With sales of:

20 000 → bicycles sell at £400 each

25 000 → £400 each

30 000 → £360 each

35 000 → £320 each

40 000 → £280 each

I need to draw a total revenue curve, average revenue curve and marginal revenue curve.

So for this I figure I need to find total, average and marginal revenues, which I think are:

Sales______TR (£millions)____Average revenue (£)________Marginal Revenue(£)

25 000________18_______________720_______________________300

30 000_______28.8______________960________________________240

35 000________40______________1143_______________________183

40 000_______51.2______________1280_______________________137

Have I got this right?? I draw out my Total Revenue graph looks ok, but I'm not sure I 've got AR and MR right because when I draw them on the same graph together the MR curve sort of goes off in another direction from the AR curve.

Are my values right???? Can someone please answer? I think I'm really stuck and my Economics book doesn't have an answers section either, so I don't know what I'm doing.

I then get asked to calculate the 'price elasticity of demand between the four price points, assuming that the higher price is the initial price'.

For sales between

25 000 to 30 000, I think PEOD is 1.11

30 000 - 35 000, PEOD is 1.5

and 35 000 - 40 000 PEOD is 1.3

Is this what the question was asking?

I would so much appreciate if someone would answer and clear my confusion. I 'm really quite stressed out about this..

Many thanks

Oli

I've got a question in my Economics book in a chapter on 'Costs' that I'm not sure I've got the right answers to.

There's a table, as shown below:

Capital Labour Total Output (Units)

10______0________0

10______1________8

10______2________24

10______3________42

10______4________60

10______5________70

10______6________72

It then goes:

'Table 7 shows the change in total product as more labour is added to production and all other factor products remain constant. The price of capital is £1 per unit whilst labour is £2 per unit.

a) Calculate the following over the range of output from 0-72 units:

i) Total Fixed Cost

ii) Total Variable Cost

iii) Total Cost

iv) Average Fixed Cost

v) Average Variable Cost

vi) Average Total Cost

vii) Marginal Cost

So I followed the formula for calculating these and got

TFC = £10 for all outputs

TVC's in order from 0 - 72 units:

- , 24,72, 126, 180, 210, 216

TC's in order from 0-72 units

10, 34, 82, 136, 190, 230, 226

AFC's - ll -

- , 1.25, 0.42, 0.24, 0.17, 0.14, 0.14

AVC = 3 for all outputs apart output 0 which = £0 AVC

ATC's in order from 0-72 units:

- , 4.25, 3.42, 3.24, 3.17, 3.14, 3.14

and finally MC's:

- , 3, 3, 3, 3, 4, -2

I'm baffled somewhat by the value minus 2 for the last output?

All my AVC's are the same, the marginal costs seem a bit suspect as well and there isn't an answers section at the back of my economics book either so unfortunately I can't check my answers (which is a bit pointless).

Would someone please tell me if I'm doing this right and if so, how would you get a negative MC value if there is such a thing and what does it mean?

Also, if my answers are correct:

in the later part of the question I need to draw a graph of these values, could someone suggest a suitable scale I could use for the axes, given that output is along x and cost along y-axis?

Help would be greatly appreciated :)

Many thanks

Oli

I've got a question in my economics book that asks me to explain possible sources of external economies of scale for food companies.

Well I know that external economies of scale are falling average costs of production (shown by a downward shift in the average cost curve), which result from a growth in the size of the industry within which the firm operates.

So... according to that definition the only source of external economies of scale for food companies I can think of is an increase in demand for food products....am I getting this right?

Would someone kindly clarify this?

Many thanks

Oli

For the events J and K,

P(J ∪ K) = 0.5, P(J ' ∩ K) = 0.2, P(J ∩ K' ) = 0.25

Determine whether or not J and K are independent.

Well I've done the rest of the question and I've figured that P(J) = 0.3, P(K)=0.25 and P(J | K) = 0.2

(I know these answers are correct because I checked with my maths book)

However it doesn't give the answer to this last part and the events don't seem to be independent or mutually exclusive.. well not from the working out I've tried..

Can someone please help out and explain how to determine this.

Many thanks

Oli

Two fair dice are thrown and the product of the numbers on the dice is recorded. Given that one die lands on 2, find the probability that the product on the dice is

a) exactly 6

b) more than 5

For a) my book says that

P(exactly 6 l 2) = P(Product of 6 and 2 on die) / P(2 on one die)

= ( 2/36) / (11/36)

I get the 2/36 but what does P(2 on one die) mean and how is it 11/36. I drew out a table with possibilities. Does it mean the probability of having a product of 2 on one die? I'm confused.

For b) It says that

P(more than 5 given 2) = (8/36) / (11/36) = 8/11

which I imagine is P( product of 5 and 2) / P(product of 2 on one die)

I don't understand P (product of 5 and 2) is 8/11?

I would much appreciate some assistance with this.

Many thanks

Oli :)

I have part of a question (with the answer) that I can't figure out. It goes:

'The labelling on bags of garden compost indicates that the bags weigh 20kg. The weights of a random sample of 50 bags are shown below.

Weight(kg) Frequency

14.6 - 14.8 1

14.8 - 18.0 0

18.0 - 18.5 5

18.5 - 20.0 6

20.0 - 20.2 22

20.2 - 20.4 15

20.4 - 21.0 1

On a graph draw a histogram of these data.'

So anyway, I tried using Area = k * frequency or Frequency Density = frequency/class width and my maths book shows the frequency densities as being (in order, starting with class 14.6 - 14.8)

5, 25, 26, 42, 35, 5.

I can see that the first value = 1 / 0.2 = 5 but the rest is confusing me, am I meant to be using class midpoints or something?

An explanation would be very much appreciated.

Many thanks

Oli

This is the last of a group of questions I don't understand.

I = ∫ xe^(sqrtx) dx with limits 4 and 0

Use the substitution u^2 = x to show that I (capital i) may be expressed in the form

I = ∫ q*u^(p)*e^(u) du with limits a and b

where a, b, p and q are integers to be determined.

My maths book gives

2 ∫ u^(3)*e^(u) du as the answer so I assume that means q=2, p=3 but it doesn't say what a and b are.

I have absolutely no idea where to start or what to do with this. I'm really stressed out about it and badly need help.

The final bit of the question goes

Use integration by parts to find the exact value of I showing all steps in your working.

Well, I'm a lot better with integration by parts than with substitution, so I know the integration by parts formula is

∫ u*(dv/dx)*dx = uv - ∫ v*(du/dx)*dx

So,

u=x, du/dx = 1

dv/dx = e^(sqrtx) but I don't know how to integrate this to find v. Is it e^(sqrtx) * 1/2x^(-1/2)

If I knew what v was I think I could sort the rest out myself.

Anyway, the answer to this is

4e^2 +12.

(according to maths book)

So assistance would be very much appreciated.

Many thanks

Oli

I've been trying to integrate

16π * ∫ sin^3tcost dt with limits t= π/2 and t = 0 to find the exact volume of V, which according to my maths book is 4π.

I've tried using integration by parts but it doesn't seem to be working.

Would someone please advise me of the best way to go about this.

Many thanks

Oli

This is the last of a group of questions I don't understand.

I = ∫ xe^(sqrtx) dx with limits 4 and 0

Use the substitution u^2 = x to show that I (capital i) may be expressed in the form

I = ∫ q*u^(p)*e^(u) du with limits a and b

where a, b, p and q are integers to be determined.

My trusty maths book gives

2 ∫ u^(3)*e^(u) du as the answer so I assume that means q=2, p=3 but it doesn't say what a and b are.

I have absolutely no idea where to start or what to do with this. I'm really stressed out about it and badly need help.

The final bit of the question goes

Use integration by parts to find the exact value of I showing all steps in your working.

Well, I'm a lot better with integration by parts than with substitution, so I know the integration by parts formula is

∫ u*(dv/dx)*dx = uv - ∫ v*(du/dx)*dx

So,

u=x, du/dx = 1

dv/dx = e^(sqrtx) but I don't know how to integrate this to find v. Is it e^(sqrtx) * 1/2x^(-1/2)

If I knew what v was I think I could sort the rest out myself.

Anyway, the answer to this is apparently

4e^2 +12.

So assistance would be very much appreciated.

Many thanks

Oli

Relative to a fixed origin O, the 3 points A, B and C have position vectors

a= 2i + 6j - 5k, b = 4i +10j -9k and c = 8j - 7k respectively.

a) Find the angle ABC giving your answer to the nearest degree.

Maths book answer: 35degrees

The point D lies on the line through A and C and OD is perpendicular to AC

b) Find the position vector of D.

Maths book answer: (5, 3, -2) [column matrix]

c) Hence find the exact value of the area of the triangle OAC.

Maths book answer: sqrt114

Ok, I am most confused with part a). I know that in general cos θ = a.b / l a l.l b l (the denominator is supposed to be magnitude of a*magnitude of b. Now what it sounds like to me is that there is point O with three lines A,B and C sticking out of it, but I have no idea where A,B and C are in relation to each other. I tried plotting it vaguely using the i and j coords and tried using AB and BC in the equation for a and b and I've done a lot of scribbling but I can't get the correct answer.

For b) I've figured that AC is -2, 2, -2 (this is a column matrix - horizontal version) and that AC*OD should equal zero, but I don't know what I'm meant to multiply AC by.

And finally for c), where's B meant to be in the OAC triangle, I don't get how it works with part a). Am I meant to find the distance from O to A, and from A to C and then multiply by 1/2?

I don't understand...please would someone explain this to me?

Many thanks

Oli