The answer
the flame pictures grow in both height and width, so the area exaggerates the increase
O-Level E-Math 2016 Paper 1 Question 8 · Verified worked solution by the Genius Plus Academy teaching team
What this question tests
This is Question 8 of the O-Level E-Math 2016 Paper 1. It tests two-dimensional pictogram distorts a one-dimensional quantity, in the Statistical diagrams (misleading graphs) area. It is worth 2 marks. It is a worded / diagram-based question, so open your Ten-Year Series (TYS) or the official paper at this question, then follow our full worked solution below.
Each year's bill is drawn as a flame shape that is enlarged in both its height and its width. The eye compares the areas of the flames, and area grows roughly as the square of the linear scaling, so the increase in the bill looks much larger than it really is. (A second weakness: the vertical axis has no proper scale apart from the single value 1200, and the flames have no clear common baseline, so exact values cannot be read.) A fair display would use bars of equal width whose heights alone represent the amounts.
Answer: the flame pictures grow in both height and width, so the area exaggerates the increase
Same structure, different numbers
Swap the constants, dress a quadratic as a length, hide a derivative inside an integral, and a student sees a brand new problem. The structure underneath is the same, and so is the method. Once a student can name the structure, a whole row of questions that look different start to open the same way.
That is where marks really leak: in choosing the method, not in the algebra that follows. We call it Lock and Key, name the lock, then the key follows.
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Genius Plus Academy · O-Level & IP Mathematics
Our O-Level E-Math tuition trains the same recognise-the-structure method these worked solutions show, taught by a team that has marked these papers for years. It runs within our weekly Secondary Math programme, Sec 1 to 4 and IP.
It is a two-dimensional pictogram distorts a one-dimensional quantity question from Statistical diagrams (misleading graphs), worth 2 marks.
Yes. IP (Integrated Programme) schools teach the same O-Level Mathematics content; they just sequence it differently and set their own internal exams, so these worked solutions apply to IP students too.
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