Physics · OCR H556 · Topic MS

Mathematical skills

The maths you need in physics: units, standard form, uncertainties, rearranging equations, logarithms, graphs and trigonometry.

  • 35 sub-topics
  • Taught in Year 13
  • 227 practice questions
  • 35 animated lessons
Practice questions (227) Lessons Worksheets coming soon All OCR Physics topics

What the specification says

Every sub-topic OCR can examine in this topic, with its reference number from the official specification. The Y12 and Y13 tags show when each sub-topic is usually taught.

  1. MS 0.1Units and prefixesY13
  2. MS 0.2Decimal and standard formY13
  3. MS 0.3Ratios, fractions and percentagesY13
  4. MS 0.4Estimating effects of changing parametersY13
  5. MS 0.5Calculator: powers, exponentials and logsY13
  6. MS 0.6Calculator: sin, cos and tanY13
  7. MS 1.1Significant figuresY13
  8. MS 1.2Means of repeated readingsY13
  9. MS 1.3Simple probabilityY13
  10. MS 1.4Order-of-magnitude calculationsY13
  11. MS 1.5Combining uncertaintiesY13
  12. MS 2.1Symbols =, <, ≪, ≫, >, ∝, ≈, ΔY13
  13. MS 2.2Changing the subjectY13
  14. MS 2.3Substituting values with unitsY13
  15. MS 2.4Solving equationsY13
  16. MS 2.5LogarithmsY13
  17. MS 3.1Graphical, numerical and algebraic formsY13
  18. MS 3.2Plotting dataY13
  19. MS 3.3y = mx + cY13
  20. MS 3.4Gradient and interceptY13
  21. MS 3.5Rate of change from a straight lineY13
  22. MS 3.6Tangents to curvesY13
  23. MS 3.7Instantaneous and average ratesY13
  24. MS 3.8Area under a graphY13
  25. MS 3.9Calculus ideas without calculusY13
  26. MS 3.10Logarithmic plotsY13
  27. MS 3.11Testing exponential and power laws with log plotsY13
  28. MS 3.12Sketching k/x, kx², kx, sin x, cos x, e^(±x), sin²x, cos²xY13
  29. MS 4.1Angles in 2D and 3D structuresY13
  30. MS 4.22D and 3D formsY13
  31. MS 4.3Areas and volumesY13
  32. MS 4.4Pythagoras and angle sum of a triangleY13
  33. MS 4.5Sin, cos and tan in physical problemsY13
  34. MS 4.6Small-angle approximationsY13
  35. MS 4.7Degrees and radiansY13

Try 3 questions

Easy, medium and hard questions from this topic, each with a worked solutions and the mark for every step. All 227 questions in this topic, free, no account needed.

Mathematical skills

Easy

Prefixes · Year 12 · 1 mark

  1. What is 33 μV in volts?
    (1)

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  1. micro means × 10⁻⁶.B: 3.30×10−5 V3.30 \times 10^{-5}\ \mathrm{V}

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Mathematical skills

Medium

Orders of magnitude · Year 12 · 1 mark

  1. What is the order of magnitude of (2×105)×(1.1×102)(2 \times 10^{5}) \times (1.1 \times 10^{2})?
    (1)

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  1. Multiply the numbers and add the powers of ten, then take the nearest power of ten.A: 10710^{7}

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Mathematical skills

Hard

Testing a power law · Year 12 · 2 marks

A graph of ln y against ln x is a straight line.
  1. The gradient is -2. State the relationship between y and x.
    (2)
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  1. ln⁡y=nln⁡x+ln⁡k\ln y = n\ln x + \ln k
  2. y=kx−2y = kx^{-2}

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