2024 VCE (NHT) General Mathematics Examination 2 Page 13 of 28
Matrices
Question 10 (3 marks)
An egg farmer has five barns on their property: I, J, K, L and M.
N Matrix H below shows the available communication links between the five barns.
H receiver
I J K L M
T I 0 0 0 0 0
J 0 0 0 0 1
H sender K 0 0 0 1 1
L 0 0 1 0 1
M 0 1 1 1 0
In this matrix:
• The ‘1’ at element h25 indicates that barn J can directly communicate to barn M.
• The ‘0’ at element h42 indicates that barn L cannot directly communicate to barn J.
Do not write in this area.
a. Which barn(s) can directly communicate to barn L? 1 mark
b. State two communication paths for barn J to communicate to barn K. 1 mark
c. The farmer plans to install one new direct communication link in one barn to receive
direct communication from barn I.
In which barn should the new direct communication link be installed to ensure that
barn I has either a one-step or a two-step communication link with every other barn? 1 mark
Page 14 of 28 2024 VCE (NHT) General Mathematics Examination 2
Question 11 (2 marks)
The farmer sells four different egg sizes (medium, large, extra large and jumbo) in cartons
containing 12 eggs.
The table below shows the total egg weight, in grams, per carton for the different egg sizes.
egg size medium large extra large jumbo
total egg
504 600 696 804
weight (grams)
This information is also displayed in Matrix E.
E 504 600 696 804
a. Complete the following matrix equation that will calculate the average egg weight in a
carton for each egg size. 1 mark
× 504 600 696 804 =
Do not write in this area.
b. On one day, the farmer sold 122 cartons of medium eggs, 148 cartons of large eggs,
80 cartons of extra large eggs, and 52 cartons of jumbo eggs as shown in Matrix Q.
Q 122 148 80 52
In the space below, write a matrix calculation using Matrix Q and a column matrix to
show that the total number of eggs sold on this day was 4824. 1 mark
(Answer in the space above.)
2024 VCE (NHT) General Mathematics Examination 2 Page 15 of 28
N
H
T
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Page 16 of 28 2024 VCE (NHT) General Mathematics Examination 2
Question 12 (4 marks)
Three types of eggs are sold at a local supermarket: cage eggs (C ), free-range eggs (F )
and barn-laid eggs (B).
Each week customers purchase eggs from one of the three types.
The supermarket is holding a 10-week campaign to encourage more shoppers to purchase
free-range eggs.
Let Sn be the state matrix that shows the expected proportion of customers who purchased
each type of egg n weeks after the campaign began.
The proportion of customers who purchased each type of egg prior to the beginning of the
10-week campaign is shown in S0 below.
0.4 C
S0 0.4 F
0.2 B
The recurrence relation that is used to calculate the expected proportion of customers who
purchased each type of egg is given by
this week
Do not write in this area.
C F B
0.65 0.15 0.25 C
Sn + 1 = T × Sn where T 0.20 0.70 0.30 F next week
0.15 0.15 0.45 B
a. An incomplete transition diagram for Matrix T is shown below.
Complete the transition diagram by adding the missing edges and the missing
proportions. 1 mark
0.15 0.15
F B
0.30
2024 VCE (NHT) General Mathematics Examination 2 Page 17 of 28
b. How many weeks after the campaign begins will more than 44% of the customers first
be expected to purchase free-range eggs (F )? 1 mark
N
H c. For the duration of the 10-week campaign, 2000 customers purchased eggs at this
T supermarket each week.
Identify the expected number of additional shoppers who purchased free-range
eggs (F ) at the end of the campaign compared to the start of the campaign.
Round your answer to the nearest whole number. 1 mark
Do not write in this area.
d. The farmer believes that their free-range eggs are so superior that shoppers will
eventually stop purchasing cage eggs and barn-laid eggs, and only buy their
free-range eggs.
Complete column F in the following transition matrix for a scenario in which
shoppers will eventually stop purchasing cage eggs and barn-laid eggs, and buy
only free-range eggs. 1 mark
this week
C F B
0.65 0.25 C
0.20 0.30 F next week
0.15 0.45 B
Page 18 of 28 2024 VCE (NHT) General Mathematics Examination 2
Question 13 (3 marks)
A farmer has four fields for chickens to roam in during the day.
The fields are named North (N ), East (E ), South (S ) and West (W ).
The following transition matrix is used to determine the expected proportion of chickens
that will either change fields from one day to the next, or stay in the same field on
consecutive days.
There are initially 10 000 chickens in each field.
this day
N E S W
0.30 0.12 0.30 0.20 N
0.14 0.28 0.25 0.44 E
T next day
0.24 0.40 0.12 0.17 S
0.32 0.20 0.33 0.19 W
a. After one day, how many chickens are expected to remain in the same field that they
were in initially? 1 mark
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b. After two days, 8962 chickens are expected to be in North field.
How many of these 8962 chickens are expected to have been in North field initially? 1 mark
2024 VCE (NHT) General Mathematics Examination 2 Page 19 of 28
c. Of the chickens expected to be in East field after three days, what is the percentage of
chickens that were also expected to be in East field after both one day and two days?
Round your answer to the nearest whole number. 1 mark
N
H
T
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