<p>Like for some questions, can you just omit some of the nasty work? Like </p>
<p>Question 2a for example, can't you just write the integral from 0 to 2 of R(t) dt = 980 people? </p>
<p>They did it like that in the solutions, but I am wondering if they did it jsut to save printing money</p>
<p>Since that problem also appeared on the AB exam, which I took last year. yes, you can avoid the nasty work. The reason: you are allowed to use a graphing calculator.</p>
<p>What about those maximum and minimum questions? Like for 2b, you can just graph the function and use it to find the maximums instead of taking the derivative. Do you have to draw out an interval of increase/decrease?</p>
<p>I think that you can just draw the graph of R(t) and just draw an arrow pointing to the maximum and adding a short description/explanation. Then, just give the t-value.</p>
<p>You can do four things with a graphing calculator without showing work:</p>
<p>(1) Given a function and an x-value, you can evaluate the derivative of the given function at the given x-value.
(2) You can evaluate a definite integral.
(3) You can find the zeroes of a function (and accordingly, you can find the intersection of two curves f(x) and g(x), since this is equivalent to solving for where f(x) - g(x) = 0).
(4) You can draw a graph on a given domain and range.</p>
<p>So for a question like 2a, indeed, it is sufficient to show the set-up of the definite integral, and then to use your calculator to determine the result. In fact, many of the functions they give on the calculator-active FRQ’s cannot be integrated by hand (or at least not using techniques that you are required to know).</p>
<p>On the other hand, for 2(b), maxima can only be determined in one of two ways:</p>
<p>Relative maxima can be determined by finding where the derivative is equal to zero or undefined.</p>
<p>Absolute maxima can be determined by either using a relative maximum test when determining that the relative maximum is the only viable critical point, or by evaluating the original function at all relative maxima and all endpoints on a closed interval.</p>
<p>Note that drawing the graph of R(t) is insufficient; since a calculus method for finding maxima is available, you are expected to use that technique.</p>