Submitted by TR14 on Wed, 08/17/2016 - 18:22
Forums:
When a STEP question asks for a sketch, does this have to be orthonormal and ruler-traced, or can it be more approximative ("sketchy"?) ? Also, how would you sketch a graph where more than one curve is possible, for example in assignment 2 where there are a number of parameters : do you just trace several possibilities ?
My take on this is that in
My take on this is that in this particular question the audience for the sketches is you ie you're being advised to draw a sketch to help you visualise the information as that will likely help you with the answer.
It is not a question asking for an accurate sketch.
More generally graph sketching is repeatedly mentioned as a key skill in STEP so this might be a gentle introduction.
When I did the question (I'm still not sure my answer is right) I found I only really needed a few rough sketches to keep track of where the maxima and minima were in the various cases. Eg when the curve is in the first quadrant a sketch helped me keep track of where the maximum is - it really was at that level. Simple, but handy when there are several different cases and I was juggling several other pieces of information.
In my experience
The shape of the curve is important to draw, and also make sure to include any important information (stationary points, intercepts and roots). I have noticed in multiple STEP questions that the location of the stationary points for polynomials can be useful to determine information about the roots and visa versa, so that is important to keep in mind when tackling a problem involving sketches.