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Math Applications HL Paper 1 (May 2025, TZ2)

  1. [Maximum mark: 6]

A biologist believes that there is a relationship between the possible population size of a group of birds (p thousand) and the population of a colony of wasps (w thousand). Based on her research she believes that the relationship is w = p³ − 4p² + 3p.

(a) When w = 0, find the possible values of p. [2]

(b) Determine the positive values of w for which there is only one positive value of p. [4]