Where do asymptotes feature in the MEI A Level?
The word asymptote is not included in the national Subject Core for AS and A Level Mathematics and testing of asymptotes is excluded from C1. However, students are likely to have seen asymptotes already, for example, through sketching the curve y = 1/x in GCSE. In C2 students meet asymptotes when they draw graph of y = tanθ. This curve, together with transformations of it, is explicitly in the syllabus. So it is likely that, by now, students will have met the word asymptote, at least in the context of vertical asymptotes, since teachers will have used the word when describing these curves. When doing C3 coursework, students are expected to know that failure of a change of sign method can occur for solving f(x) = 0 when f(x) has a vertical asymptote, as stated in Note C3e2 on page 61 of the specification. In examination questions in C3 and C4, for example June 2007 C3 question 7, the correct technical term asymptote is used to avoid a lengthy explanation. Teachers are advised to look ca
