Complete Study Guide & Notes On

GENERAL USEFUL FORMULAE

A Formulae Guide By OP Gupta (Indira Award Winner)
If people do not believe that mathematics is simple, it is only
because they do not realize how complicated life is.

IMPORTANT TERMS, DEFINITIONS & RESULTS

01. Indices (Laws Of Exponents):
am m n 1
m
a) a .a  a
n m n
b) n  a
a
m n
c) a   a mn d) a
n

an
m m
0 m m m a b
e) a  1 f) a .b   ab  g)      .
b a
02. Componendo & Dividendo:
a c a b cd a b cd
If  then we have,  and  .
b d a b cd a b cd

03. Solving of a Quadratic Equation:

Consider a quadratic equation of the form, ax 2  bx  c  0 then, its roots are given by

b  b2  4ac b  b2  4ac
x and, x  where D  b2  4ac .
2a 2a

04. Logarithmic Relations:

logb p 1
a) log a p  b) log a p 
log ba log p a
c) log a  m n   nlog a  m  d) log a  m.n   log a  m   log a  n 

m
e) log a    log a  m   log a  n  f) log a a  1
n

g) log a a p  plog a a  p h) a loga f ( x)

 f ( x) .

05. Exponential Series:

x2 2 xn n
a) a x  1  x.  log e a   . log e a   ...  . log e a   ...
2! n !
x2 x3 xn
b) e x  1  x    ...   ... for all x.
2! 3! n!
06. Logarithmic Series:
x 2 x3 x 4
a) log e 1  x   x     ...,  1  x  1
2 3 4
x2 x3 x 4
b) log e 1  x    x     ...,  1  x  1 .
2 3 4
07. Binomial Expansions:
n
a)  a  b   nC0 a n 0b 0  nC1a n1b1  nC2 a n 2b 2  ...  nCr a n r b r  ...  nCn a n nb n if n  Z  .
n
b) 1  x   1  nC1 x  nC2 x 2  ...  nCr x r  ...  nCn x n if n is a positive integer.

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General Useful Formulae By OP Gupta (INDIRA AWARD Winner, Elect. & Comm.Engineering)
n n  n  1 2 n  n  1 n  2  3
c) 1  x   1  nx  x  x  ... such that 1  x  1 and n  Z  or n  Q .
2! 3!

xn  an
d)  x n 1  a.x n 2  a 2 .x n3  ...  a n 1 .
xa
08. Trigonometric Series:
x 3 x5 x7
a) sin x  x     ...
3! 5! 7!
x 2 x4 x6
b) cos x  1     ...
2! 4! 6!
x3 2
c) tan x  x   x 5  ... .
3 15
09. Sum of Special Sequences:
n
n( n  1)
a) Sum of first n natural numbers: 1  2  3  ...  n   r 
r 1 2
n
n ( n  1)(2 n  1)
b) Sum of squares of first n natural numbers: 12  2 2  32  ...  n 2   r 2 
r 1 6
n 2
n( n  1) 
c) Sum of cubes of first n natural numbers: 13  23  33  ...  n 3   r 3  
r 1  2 
n
d) Sum of any constant k to n times: k  k  k  ...  k  to n times    k  nk .
r 1

NUMBER SYSTEM
01. Natural numbers: The numbers used in ordinary counting i.e. 1, 2, 3,..., are called natural numbers (and
positive integers as well). The set of natural nos. is denoted by N . Also if we include 0 to the set of natural
numbers, we get set of the whole numbers which is denoted by the symbol W.
Therefore N= 1, 2,3,... and, W= 0,1, 2,3,... .

02. Integers: The numbers ...  3, 2, 1,0,1, 2,3,... are called integers. The set of integers is denoted by
I or Z . Though now we use Z instead of I to symbolize the set of integers.
Therefore, I or Z= ...  3, 2, 1, 0,1, 2,3,... .
Clearly N  Z .

• Also from the above discussion, it is evident that integers are of three types viz.:
+
a) Positive integers i.e. Z = 1, 2,3,...

b) Negative integers i.e. Z = 1, 2, 3,...
c) Zero integer i.e. non-positive and non-negative integer.
p
03. Rational numbers: A number of the form , where p and q are integers and q  0 , is called a rational
q
no. The set of rational nos. is denoted by Q .
p 
Therefore Q=  ; p, q  Z and q  0 
q 
Clearly N  Z  Q .

• Zero being an integer, is also a rational number.

04. Irrational numbers: An irrational number has a non-terminating and non-repeating decimal representation
p
i.e. it can’t be expressed in the form of . The set of irrational nos. is denoted by T .
q

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A Complete Formulae Guide  Compiled By OP Gupta (M.+91-9650350480 | +91-9718240480)
Few examples of irrational numbers are 2, 5 7, 8  3, 3 5, e,  ,... etc.
22
• Note that  is irrational while is rational.
7
05. Real numbers: The set of all numbers either rational or irrational, is called real number. The set of real
nos. is denoted by R .
Clearly N  Z  Q  R .

Algebraic Identities:
2
a)  a  b   a 2  2 ab  b 2 b) a 2  b 2   a  b  a  b 
3 3
c)  a  b   a 3  3a 2 b  3ab 2  b3 d)  a  b   a 3  3a 2b  3ab 2  b3

e) a 3  b3   a  b  a 2  ab  b 2  
f) a 3  b 3   a  b  a 2  ab  b 2 
2 2 2 2
g)  a  b  c   a  b  c  2ab  2bc  2ca
 
h) a 3  b 3  c 3  3abc   a  b  c  a 2  b 2  c2  ab  bc  ca .

 Concept of Infinity:
We consider the existence of two symbols  and  outside the set of real numbers R and would call them
minus infinity and plus infinity respectively with the fact   x   for every x  R .
Thus  and  are not real numbers but just the symbols (like we use x, y etc.).
When we write x   , we mean that:
a) x is larger than any real number however large.
b) x is not a fixed number.

  , if c  1


Also c  0, if 0  c  1 .
 1, if c  1


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