June 2025 Paper 3 Q10

AQACurrent spec10 marksModellingTrigonometry

10

(a) Express\[2\sin x + 5\cos x\]in the form\[R\sin(x + \alpha)\]

where \(R \gt 0\) and \(0^\circ \leqslant \alpha \leqslant 90^\circ\)

[3 marks]
(b) In 2010, the water temperature at a beach could be modelled by the formula\[T = 14.2 - (2\sin d^\circ + 5\cos d^\circ)\]

where:

  • \(T\) is the temperature of the water in °C
  • \(d\) is the number of days after 1 January 2010
(i) Find the value of \(d\) when the temperature of the water reached its lowest value in 2010 [1 mark]
(ii) Find the maximum temperature of the water predicted by the model in 2010

Give your answer to one decimal place.

[1 mark]
(iii) Find the number of weeks in 2010 for which the temperature of the water was higher than 15 °C

Give your answer to the nearest whole number.

[5 marks]