BTEC Assignment Brief

Qualification

BTEC level 3 Extended Diploma/ Diploma in IT

Unit number and title

Unit 26- Mathematics for Computing

Learning aim(s) (For NQF only)

Assignment title

Matrices in computing

Assessor

John Rogers

Issue date

17 Oct 2016

Hand in deadline

12 Dec 2016

Vocational
Scenario or
Context

There is a need to create algorithms in computing to solve complex calculations such as

rendering a 2D image or a 3D scene in a game or even predicting safe trajectories for aircraft
as they approach busy airports. Many efficient solutions to these problems involve matrix
manipulation which means designing array based algorithms for programming.
How matrices and hence arrays are used in algorithms to solve a variety of problems is what
the following assignment will try to show

Task 1

Creating your 3 3 matrix

a) Individually you are to come up with three questions which you will ask the other class
members that have only 3 possible answers; e.g. What colour are your eyes- answers could be
blue, brown or green.
1. You will need to tally the number of responses for each in a tally chart.
2. Then you can express each questions result in an individual matrix expression.

Checklist of
evidence required

1. A set of 3 reasonable questions each with 3 answers; a tally chart and a 3 3

matrix representing the answers provided

Criteria covered by this task:

Unit/Criteria reference To achieve the criteria you must show that you are able to:
P1

Task 2

demonstrate how matrices can be used to represent ordered data

Manipulating your Matrix

a) If, over the year, several class members left your group and new ones arrived, then the values
in your matrix would change.
i. Using your original matrix and the change Matrices of [

] for 6 students leaving and

] for 5 students arriving, what is your new final matrix?

ii. If the average result of my 3 questions for each block of 10 students is given by the matrix
], what would the estimated results be for groups of 5 and 30?

Checklist of
evidence required

1. Solutions showing details of the subtraction and the addition to your matrix that
provides your final resultant matrix.

Criteria covered by this task:

Unit/Criteria reference To achieve the criteria you must show that you are able to:
P2

perform add, subtract and scalar multiplication operations on a matrix

Task 3

a) Three groups of students have been given a day out at a theme park and they are to eat at
one of the park's fast food restaurants.
They have been given a budget for all of the food and you need to find if it will cover all the
meals. You have to keep the group preferences and amounts separate as those with more
expensive meals will have to contribute to the costs if the total exceeds the budget.
There are 20 students in each group and there are 3 choices for food.
The choices are vegetarian, fish and beef, with prices 5.00, 6.00 and 7.00.
The resulting matrix for the choices is:
A=[

] and the matrix for the prices is B = [ ]

The budget for the meal is 350.00

i. Using Matrix manipulation show if there will be enough money to pay for all the groups'
meals? (Show all working).
ii. Using pseudo code as a guide explain how the problem above can be encoded in a computer
program using simple arrays (You do not need to encode it as it should be capable of
encoding into C#, Java, Javascript, Python, etc.)

Checklist of
evidence required

1. Solutions showing details of the multiplication to your matrix that provides your
final resultant matrix and how it identifies whether there will be enough money to
pay
2. A pseudo coded program that can solve the problem of task 3 and an explanation
of how arrays form the key component of the code

Criteria covered by this task:

Unit/Criteria reference To achieve the criteria you must show that you are able to:
P3

multiply two matrices

M1

explain the relationship between matrices and computer program variable arrays

Task 4

a) Transpose the matrix A = [

] and give AT in a matrix form. (Show all working).

b) If the equations 2x - 2y = -10 and -4x + 3y = 17 are the trajectories of two planes, where
they cross will be a big explosion, so we need to predict where this would be in order to
avoid it
i.

Use matrix manipulation to solve the two equations for x and y to show where a
collision will take place. (Show all working).

ii.

Use another method such as elimination to solve the problem and so verify your
matrix results. (Show all working).

Checklist of
evidence required

1. A solution showing details of finding the transpose and the solutions matrix
2. A step by step matrix solution to the two equations to find the cross-over point
3. A non-matrix solution to verify your answer above

Criteria covered by this task:

Unit/Criteria reference To achieve the criteria you must show that you are able to:
P4

find the inverse and transpose of a matrix

P5 (part)

apply matrix techniques to solving simultaneous linear equations

2
BTEC Assignment Brief v1.0
BTEC Internal Assessment QDAM January 2015

Task 5

The coordinate system is usually based on the origin (0, 0, 0), but for games computing purposes
(such as another perspective view) it may be necessary to temporarily migrate the origin to
another value and then return the origin to its previous value again.
We can express positions, movement etc. as vectors where i, j, k represent unit vectors in the
directions of the x, y and z axes respectively.
2i +

j + 2k

4i

- 3j + 5k

6i

- 3j + 3k

Vectors A, B and C

a) Create a matrix from all three vectors.

b) Transform the original vectors using the following: (+2, 2, -3) (Show all working).
c)

Rotate the original vectors by 90 degrees in the j-axis. (Show all planning & working).

d) Map and graph your results from d and e using a 3D plotting program and graph paper.

Checklist of
evidence required

1. Matrix versions of the 3 vectors

2. A solution showing details of the transformation process and solution
3. A solution showing details of the rotation process and solution
4. A map and graph showing the results of the transformation and the rotation
processes

Criteria covered by this task:

Unit/Criteria reference To achieve the criteria you must show that you are able to:
P5
apply matrix techniques to solving simultaneous linear equations
M2
apply matrix techniques to vector transformation and rotation, maps and graphs

Sources of information
to support you with this Moodle; Online resources - BBC Bitesize; mathworld.wolfram.com
Assignment
Other assessment
materials attached to
this Assignment Brief

None

FOR NQF LEVEL 2 ONLY: If you have not achieved the Level 2 criteria, your work will be
assessed to determine if the following Level 1 criteria have been met.
To achieve the criteria you must show that you are able to:

Unit

Criterion reference

3
BTEC Assignment Brief v1.0
BTEC Internal Assessment QDAM January 2015