IGCSE Mathematics: Formula Booklet

1. NUMBER
o Time
 Order of Operations (BIDMAS)

1 leap year = 366 days

Brackets
1 ordinary year = 365 days
Indices
1 week = 7 days
Division
1 day = 24 hours
Multiplication
1 hour = 60 minutes
Addition
1 minute = 60 seconds
Subtraction

 Converting between Units  Sequences (nth term)

o Mass o Arithmetic
 𝑎𝑛 = 𝑎1 + (𝑛 − 1)𝑑,
1 tonne = 1000 kilograms (kg) where 𝑎1 is the first
term of the sequence
1kg = 1000 grams (g) and 𝑑 is the common
1 gram = 1000 milligrams (mg) difference between
terms.
o Geometric
 𝑎𝑛 = 𝑎𝑟 𝑛−1 , where 𝑎
o Volume is the first term of the
sequence and 𝑟 is the
1m3 = 1000 litres (l) common
1000 cm3 = 1 litre (l) multiplication ratio
between terms.
1000 millitres (ml) = 1 litre (l)
 Percentages
1cm3 = 1 milliltre (ml)

Percentage Change
o Length 𝐹𝑖𝑛𝑎𝑙 − 𝐼𝑛𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑎𝑙
× 100
𝐼𝑛𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑎𝑙
1 kilometre (km) = 1000 metres (m)
- If the calculated value is
1 metre (m) = 100 centimetres (cm) negative, there has been a
percentage decrease.
1 centimetre (cm) = 10 millimetres (mm) - If the calculated value is positive,
there has been a percentage
increase.
 o Compound Interest

𝑟 𝑛𝑡
 Interest 𝐴 = 𝑃(1 + )
100𝑛
o Simple Interest
where 𝐴 is the final value of the
𝑃×𝑅×𝑇 investment after interest, 𝑃 is the
𝐼= (∗)
100 principal amount (i.e. the initial
where 𝐼 is the interest earned, 𝑃 is amount invested), 𝑟 is the rate of
the principal amount (i.e. the initial interest (%) per period of time, 𝑛 is
amount invested), 𝑅 is the rate of the compound frequency (i.e. how
interest (%) per period of time, and many times interest is compounded
𝑇 is the time, i.e. the number of per year, e.g. if it was 2% per month,
periods the money is invested for. 𝑛 would be 12 since there are 12
months in a year), and 𝑡 is the time,
Note: a ‘period of time’ does not i.e. the number of periods the
specifically have to be 1 year. If, for money is invested for.
example, the investment has an
interest of 1% per month, and the
money is invested for a year, T = 12
 Speed, distance and time
(because there are 12 months in a
year) and not 1, since we are dealing
with interest per month and not per
annum (per year).

Examples of periods of time Distance

- Per month / monthly

- Per 3 months / quarterly
- Per 6 months / semi-
annually Speed Time
- Per year / per annum

From the equation above (∗), 𝐷𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒

o 𝑆𝑝𝑒𝑒𝑑 = 𝑇𝑖𝑚𝑒
𝑃×𝑅×𝑇 o 𝐷𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒 = 𝑆𝑝𝑒𝑒𝑑 × 𝑇𝑖𝑚𝑒
𝐴=𝑃+ 𝐷𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒
100 o 𝑇𝑖𝑚𝑒 = 𝑆𝑝𝑒𝑒𝑑
where 𝐴 is the final value of the
investment after interest, 𝑃 is the 5
o 𝑘𝑚/ℎ × 18 = 𝑚/𝑠
principal amount (i.e. the initial 18
amount invested), and the second- o 𝑚/𝑠 × 5
= 𝑘𝑚/ℎ
half of the RHS is the interest
earned from the investment (∗)
2. Algebra  Indices
 The Quadratic Formula
𝑎0 = 1, for all 𝑎 > 0
2
Given an equation 𝑎𝑥 + 𝑏𝑥 + 𝑐 = 0,
𝑎𝑚 × 𝑎𝑛 = 𝑎𝑚+𝑛
−𝑏 ± √𝑏 2 − 4𝑎𝑐 𝑎𝑚 ÷ 𝑎𝑛 = 𝑎𝑚−𝑛
𝑥=
2𝑎
(𝑎𝑚 )𝑛 = 𝑎𝑚𝑛
1
𝑎−𝑛 =
 Algebraic Expressions 𝑎𝑛
1
𝑛
𝑎𝑛 = √𝑎
𝑎(𝑏 + 𝑐) = 𝑎𝑏 + 𝑎𝑐
𝑚 𝑛 𝑚
𝑛
2 2
(𝑎 + 𝑏) = 𝑎 + 2𝑎𝑏 + 𝑏 2 𝑎 𝑛 = √𝑎𝑚 = ( √𝑎)

(𝑎 − 𝑏)2 = 𝑎2 − 2𝑎𝑏 + 𝑏 2 𝑎𝑚 × 𝑏 𝑚 = (𝑎𝑏)𝑚

(𝑎 + 𝑏)3 = 𝑎3 + 3𝑎2 𝑏 + 3𝑎𝑏 2 + 𝑏 2 𝑎𝑚 𝑎 𝑚

= ( )
𝑏𝑚 𝑏
(𝑎 − 𝑏)3 = 𝑎3 − 3𝑎2 𝑏 + 3𝑎𝑏 2 + 𝑏 2

𝑎2 + 𝑏 2 = (𝑎 + 𝑏)2 − 2𝑎𝑏
𝑎2 − 𝑏 2 = (𝑎 + 𝑏)(𝑎 − 𝑏)

 Variation
o Direct Variation

𝑦 is proportional to 𝑥

𝑦∝𝑥
𝑦 = 𝑘𝑥

o Inverse Variation

𝑦 is inversely proportional to 𝑥
1
𝑦∝
𝑥
𝑘
𝑦=
𝑥
3. Mensuration
 Area and Perimeter

Figure Diagram Perimeter Area

Square

𝑠
4𝑠 𝑠2

Rectangle
𝑤 2(𝑙 + 𝑤) 𝑙×𝑤

𝑙
Triangle 1
𝐵 𝑏ℎ
2
𝑐 𝑎 1
𝑎𝑏 sin 𝐶
ℎ 2
𝑎+𝑏+𝑐 where 𝑐 is the
𝐶 included angle
𝐴 𝑏 between the sides
𝑎 and 𝑏
Parallelogram 𝑏ℎ

𝑎 ℎ 2(𝑎 + 𝑏) 𝑎𝑏 sin 𝜃
where 𝜃 is the
𝜃
included angle
𝑏 between the sides
𝑎 and 𝑏
Trapezium 𝑎

𝑐 𝑑 𝑎+𝑏+𝑐+𝑑 ℎ(𝑎 + 𝑏)
ℎ
2
𝑏

 Surface Area and Volume

Figure Diagram Surface Area Volume

Cube

𝑠
6𝑠 2 𝑠3

𝑠
𝑠
Cuboid

ℎ
2(𝑙𝑤 + 𝑤ℎ + 𝑙ℎ) 𝑙×𝑤×ℎ
𝑤
𝑙

Sphere

r 4 3
2 𝜋𝑟
4𝜋𝑟 3

𝑟 is the radius of the

sphere
Cylinder

ℎ 2𝜋𝑟(𝑟 + ℎ) 𝜋𝑟 2 ℎ
𝑟

𝑟 is the radius of the

circular base
Cone Curved S.A.:

𝜋𝑟𝑙

ℎ 𝑙 1 2
Total S.A.:
𝑟 𝜋𝑟 ℎ
3
𝜋𝑟𝑙 (curved SA) +
𝜋𝑟 2 (area of the
𝑟 is the radius of the circular base)
circular base = 𝜋𝑟(𝑙 + 𝑟)

ℎ is the height which is

perpendicular to the base

𝑙 is the slant height

By Pythagoras’ Theorem,
𝑟 2 + ℎ2 = 𝑙 2
Pyramid (in general)

ℎ Base Area (A) + Area 1

𝐴×ℎ
𝐴 of the remaining 3
sides
ℎ is the height which is
perpendicular to the base

𝐴 is the area of the base

of the pyramid (for e.g.
the area of the triangular
base in a triangular-based
pyramid or the square in a
square-based pyramid)

 Arc Length and Sector Area

𝜃
Arc length, 𝑙 = 360 × 2𝜋𝑟
𝜃
360
is the fraction of the circumference the arc
length is, depending on the angle at the centre of
the circle, 𝜃; 2𝜋𝑟 is the formula for calculating the
circumference of the entire circle, where 𝑟 is the
radius of the circle.
𝑟

𝑙 sector 𝜃
𝜃
Sector Area, 𝐴 = 360 × 𝜋𝑟 2
𝜃
360
is the fraction of the area of the circle the
sector area occupies, depending on the angle at the
centre of the circle, 𝜃; 𝜋𝑟 2 is the formula for
calculating the area of the entire circle, where 𝑟 is
the radius of the circle.

𝜃
Perimeter of a Sector, 𝑃 = (360 × 2𝜋𝑟) + 2𝑟

𝜃
360
× 2𝜋𝑟 is the length of the arc (𝑙), and 2𝑟 is the
combined length of the 2 radii that make up the
rest of the sector.
4. Geometry
 Pythagoras’ Theorem

For any right-angled triangle, the square of the length of the

hypotenuse (the side opposite the right angle; the longest
𝑐 side) is equal to the sum of the squares of the lengths of the
𝑎
other two sides.

𝑏 Algebraically,

𝑎2 + 𝑏 2 = 𝑐 2 , where 𝑐 is the hypotenuse.

 Similarity
o 2D Shapes

If two shapes are similar and the ratio

×𝑘 𝑎𝑘 of corresponding sides (i.e. the linear
𝑎𝑘
scale factor) is 𝑘 { 𝑎 = 𝑘}, the ratio of
𝑎 𝑎2 𝑘2
areas is 𝑘 2 {𝑎𝑠 = 𝑘 2}
𝑎𝑘 𝑎2 𝑘 2 𝑎2
𝑎 𝑎2 Note: this applies to all similar shapes,
including regular and irregular
polygons.
× 𝑘2

o 3D Shapes

×𝑘

𝑎𝑘
If two objects are similar and the
𝑎 ratio of corresponding sides (i.e. the
𝑎𝑘
linear scale factor) is 𝑘 { = 𝑘},
𝑎𝑘 𝑎
𝑎 the ratio of surface areas is
6𝑎 2 𝑘 2
𝑎 𝑘 2 {𝑎𝑠 = 𝑘 2 }, and the ratio of
𝑎𝑘 6𝑎 2
𝑎3 𝑘 3
volumes is 𝑘 3 {𝑎𝑠 𝑎3
= 𝑘3}
2
×𝑘
Surface Area: 6𝑎2 Surface Area: 6𝑎2 𝑘 2

Volume: 𝑎3 Volume: 𝑎3 𝑘 3
× 𝑘3
𝐴
In general, for similar shapes, suppose the ratio for corresponding sides is = 𝑘. Then, the
𝐵
𝐴 2 𝐴2 𝐴 3 𝐴3
ratio for areas is (𝐵) = 𝐵2 = 𝑘 2 and for 3D shapes, the ratio for volumes is (𝐵) = 𝐵3 = 𝑘 3
 Polygons

𝐸𝑥𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑜𝑟 𝐴𝑛𝑔𝑙𝑒
𝐼𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑜𝑟 𝐴𝑛𝑔𝑙𝑒

Interior Angles Exterior Angles

The sum of the interior angles of a The sum of the exterior angles of a polygon
polygon is (𝑛 − 2) × 180°, where 𝑛 is the is 360°
number of sides of the polygon

If the polygon is regular (it has sides of

equal length and all the interior angles If the polygon is regular, then each exterior
are equal), then each interior angle is 360°
angle is 𝑛
180(𝑛−2)
equal to 2

𝐼𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑜𝑟 𝐴𝑛𝑔𝑙𝑒 + 𝐸𝑥𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑜𝑟 𝐴𝑛𝑔𝑙𝑒 = 180°

5. Trigonometry

Given a right-angled triangle:

𝑂𝑝𝑝𝑜𝑠𝑖𝑡𝑒 𝑂
 𝑠𝑖𝑛 𝜃 = 𝐻𝑦𝑝𝑜𝑡𝑒𝑛𝑢𝑠𝑒 = 𝐻
𝐴𝑑𝑗𝑎𝑐𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝐴
 𝑐𝑜𝑠 𝜃 = 𝐻𝑦𝑝𝑜𝑡𝑒𝑛𝑢𝑠𝑒 = 𝐻 𝑺𝑶𝑯 𝑪𝑨𝑯 𝑻𝑶𝑨
𝑂𝑝𝑝𝑜𝑠𝑖𝑡𝑒 𝑂
 𝑡𝑎𝑛 𝜃 = =
𝑂𝑝𝑝𝑜𝑠𝑖𝑡𝑒

𝐴𝑑𝑗𝑎𝑐𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝐴

𝑂 𝐴 𝑂
𝜃
𝑠𝑖𝑛𝜃 𝐻 𝑐𝑜𝑠𝜃 𝐻 𝑡𝑎𝑛𝜃 𝐴
𝐴𝑑𝑗𝑎𝑐𝑒𝑛𝑡

 Sine Rule
1. For calculating the length of an
unknown side:
𝐵
𝑎 𝑏 𝑐
= =
𝑠𝑖𝑛 𝐴 𝑠𝑖𝑛 𝐵 𝑠𝑖𝑛 𝐶
𝑐 𝑎

2. For calculating an unknown angle:

𝐴 𝐶
𝑏 𝑠𝑖𝑛 𝐴 𝑠𝑖𝑛 𝐵 𝑠𝑖𝑛 𝐶
= =
𝑎 𝑏 𝑐

 Cosine Rule
1. For calculating the length of an
unknown side:
𝐵
𝑎2 = 𝑏 2 + 𝑐 2 − (2𝑏𝑐 × 𝑐𝑜𝑠𝐴)

𝑐 ∴ 𝑎 = √𝑏 2 + 𝑐 2 − (2𝑏𝑐 × 𝑐𝑜𝑠𝐴)
𝑎

2. For calculating an unknown angle:

𝐴 𝐶
𝑏
𝑏 2 + 𝑐 2 − 𝑎2
𝑐𝑜𝑠𝐴 =
2𝑏𝑐
6. Graphs
 Coordinate Geometry

𝑦
𝐵 (𝑥2 , 𝑦2 )

𝐴(𝑥1 , 𝑦1 )

𝑦 −𝑦
1. Gradient of line 𝐴𝐵 = 𝑥2 −𝑥1
2 1

2. Gradient of a parallel line is same as that of the line AB

1
3. Gradient of a perpendicular line is − 𝐺𝑟𝑎𝑑𝑖𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑜𝑓 𝐴𝐵

4. By the Pythagorean Theorem, distance between the points 𝐴 and 𝐵 is

√(𝑥2 − 𝑥1 )2 + (𝑦2 − 𝑦1 )2

𝑥1 +𝑥2 𝑦1 +𝑦2
5. Midpoint of 𝐴𝐵 = ( 2
, 2 )

 Differentiation

Given the equation of a line 𝑦 = 𝑎𝑥 3 + 𝑏𝑥 2 + 𝑐𝑥 + 𝑑, we differentiate it term by term:

𝑑𝑦
= (3𝑎)𝑥 2 + (2𝑏)𝑥 + 𝑐
𝑑𝑥
In general, given a term 𝑎𝑥 𝑛 , its differentiated form is (𝑛𝑎)𝑥 𝑛−1
7. Statistics
 Histograms

Grouped Frequency Table

Ages (years) Frequency (𝒇)

0 ≤ 𝑥 < 20 28
20 ≤ 𝑥 < 40 36
40 ≤ 𝑥 < 50 17
50 ≤ 𝑥 < 70 24
70 ≤ 𝑥 < 100 12

To construct a histogram from the table above, we need to calculate the frequency density,
𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒒𝒖𝒆𝒏𝒄𝒚
𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒒𝒖𝒆𝒏𝒄𝒚 𝒅𝒆𝒏𝒔𝒊𝒕𝒚 =
𝒄𝒍𝒂𝒔𝒔 𝒘𝒊𝒅𝒕𝒉, 𝒊. 𝒆. 𝒖𝒑𝒑𝒆𝒓 𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒅 − 𝒍𝒐𝒘𝒆𝒓 𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒅
28 28
The frequency density for the first row is therefore 20−0 = 20 = 1.4. Continuing this process
gives the frequency densities for the remaining columns as: 1.8, 1.7, 1.2 and 0.4,
repspectively. The following chart shows a histogram constructed for this data:

Age Distribution Histogram

2
Frequency Density

1.5

0.5

0
0 ≤ x < 20 20 ≤ x < 40 40 ≤ x < 50 50 ≤ x < 70 70 ≤ x < 100
Ages (years)

 Mean

To find the mean of the grouped frequency table above, we firstly need to calculate the
midpoints of each group,
𝒖𝒑𝒑𝒆𝒓 𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒅 − 𝒍𝒐𝒘𝒆𝒓 𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒅
𝒎𝒊𝒅𝒑𝒐𝒊𝒏𝒕 =
𝟐
Adding this as an extra column to the table gives:
 Ages (years) Frequency (𝒇) Midpoint (𝒙)
0 ≤ 𝑥 < 20 28 10
20 ≤ 𝑥 < 40 36 30
40 ≤ 𝑥 < 50 17 45
50 ≤ 𝑥 < 70 24 60
70 ≤ 𝑥 < 100 12 85

The mean is now calculated using the following formula:

𝚺𝒇𝒙
𝒎𝒆𝒂𝒏 = ,
𝚺𝒇
where Σ𝑓𝑥 is the sum of the products of the frequencies and respective midpoints, and
Σ𝑓 is the sum of all frequencies. Therefore, for the table above,
(28 × 10) + (36 × 30) + (17 × 45) + (24 × 60) + (12 × 85)
𝑚𝑒𝑎𝑛 =
28 + 36 + 17 + 24 + 12
4585
=
117
= 39.2 (𝑡𝑜 3 𝑠𝑖𝑔𝑛𝑖𝑓𝑖𝑐𝑎𝑛𝑡 𝑓𝑖𝑔𝑢𝑟𝑒𝑠)
Therefore, the mean age for the grouped frequency table above is 39.2 years.

o Cumulative Frequency Tables

The table above could be represented as a cumulative frequency table:

Ages (years) Cumulative Frequency (𝒄𝒇)

0 ≤ 𝑥 < 20 28
20 ≤ 𝑥 < 40 64
40 ≤ 𝑥 < 50 81
50 ≤ 𝑥 < 70 105
70 ≤ 𝑥 < 100 117

A cumulative frequency table shows the total frequency up to a certain group. Start
with the frequency of the first group and then add the frequencies of subsequent
groups to get the cumulative total.

Since the cumulative frequency up to group 2 is 64, the individual frequency for that
group is 64 − 28 = 36. In general, for all 𝑛 > 1 (𝑤ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑛 𝑖𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑔𝑟𝑜𝑢𝑝 𝑛𝑢𝑚𝑏𝑒𝑟),
the individual frequency (𝑓) for the group can be calculated as:

𝒇 = 𝒄𝒇𝒏 − 𝒄𝒇𝒏−𝟏
Once all the individual frequencies have been calculated, proceed with the steps
above to obtain the mean of the cumulative frequency table.
8. Probability

𝒏𝒖𝒎𝒃𝒆𝒓 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒊𝒎𝒆𝒔 𝑨 𝒐𝒄𝒄𝒖𝒓𝒔

𝑷(𝑨) =
𝑻𝒐𝒕𝒂𝒍 𝒏𝒖𝒎𝒃𝒆𝒓 𝒐𝒇 𝒆𝒒𝒖𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒚 𝒍𝒊𝒌𝒆𝒍𝒚 𝒐𝒖𝒕𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒔

𝑃(𝑛𝑜𝑡 𝐴) = 𝑃(𝐴′ ) = 1 − 𝑃(𝐴)

For mutually exclusive events (i.e. two events For independent events (i.e. events whose
that cannot occur at the same time), occurrence is not dependent on any other
event),
𝑷(𝑨 𝒐𝒓 𝑩) = 𝑷(𝑨) + 𝑷(𝑩)
𝑷(𝑨 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑩) = 𝑷(𝑨) × 𝑷(𝑩)

 Conditional Probability

To work out 𝑃(𝐵|𝐴), i.e. the probability that event B occurs, given that event A has already
occurred, we can use the following formula:
𝑷(𝑨 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑩)
𝑷(𝑩|𝑨) =
𝑷(𝑨)

This concept can be illustrated on a Venn Diagram:

No. of Maths students No. of English Students

15 5 10

From the Venn diagram above, if we want to calculate the probability that a student studies
Maths, given that they study English, we can use the formula for conditional probability:
𝑃(𝑀 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝐸)
𝑃(𝑀|𝐸) =
𝑃(𝐸)
 5 5 5+10 15
𝑃(𝑀 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝐸) = 15+5+10 = 35 and 𝑃(𝐸) = 15+5+10 = 35

5
35 5 1
∴ 𝑃(𝑀|𝐸) = = =
15 15 3
35

Hence, we see that the probability that a student studies Maths, given that they study
1
English, is , which is clear to see on the Venn diagram; of the 15 students that study
3
5 1
English, 5 of them also study Maths, which means that 𝑃(𝑀|𝐸) must be equal to 15 = 3.
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